Dreaming about a Spicy Bloody Mary!

Last time I gave a lengthy speech it was to a massive room full of tired dietary managers. My concentration was on spices and how they could make a difference in the foods they were preparing and presenting. The whole interactive session had everything to do with empowering them in their kitchens with new ideas. While an energizing event, I can remember one very non-responsive woman sitting in the front row directly in front of me. Arms crossed, I couldn’t tell if she was completely absorbed in the differences between spices and herbs or if she had checked herself out somewhere. I pride myself on the interaction between myself and my audience so her cross armed demeanor was quite off putting.

Towards the end of my presentation we were happily on a tangent discussing less common spices and on a whim I asked the group when they might use Celery Salt. My totally nonresponsive woman in the front row actually threw her hand in the air, jumped to her feet and yelled out quite loudly, “Bloody Mary’s.” Seriously. She was the only person in the room who responded to this question in a room full of people who prior to now had been quite responsive and vocal. It was a spectacular moment and I remember just hugging her afterwards in gratitude. There was a connection! She had absorbed every word!

Just two nights ago I gave a very small speech to an amazing room of people attending the celebration for the national release of my book. I find it more difficult to talk to a room full of people you know than it is to talk to strangers and ask them to interact. This was a wildly special group of people and I wanted to give them everything I had besides making sure they left with some nugget from the evening. A light bulb moment from something I said, a connection with a new person, a reconnection. A spark. A seed. An idea.

While the event was to celebrate what I had done, I wanted the evening to have absolutely nothing to do with me. I wanted the evening to have everything to do with the power of dreaming. I had agonized over what I was going to wear, what I was going to say, the fact that my children weren’t there all for naught. (Though My Casey traveled straight from Colorado to surprise me!) What was most important was the fact that everyone was there in that room for a reason. They had traveled to this place in deathly hot summer evening traffic to celebrate me when all that really mattered was that they celebrate themselves.

I dreamt the book and I did it. Now I need to move onto the new dream. My hope in the afterglow of last Tuesday night is that someone in the room has since jumped up and raised their hand to the universe and told it what their dream is. That they made a connection and vocalized plans to follow up.

Do you have a dream for your business? Do you have a dream for your life? We are only here one time and the time for you to start dreaming is right now, this moment. Big dreaming, please.

Now I would really like a great Bloody Mary!

www.recipesfromalife.com

Advertising by the Seat of your Pants?

I am fascinated by amazing advertising campaigns. I picture a close-knit and happy advertising team sitting around a dramatic board room table surrounded by floor to ceiling windows. They are eating delicious gourmet snacks, brainstorming and feeding off of each other as they come up with ideas and slogans that will make enough impact last a lifetime. Some great ads we will remember without even remembering the product they were subliminally pushing. I love these ads.

Here I am in Texas in May where we have already sweated through more than one 100 plus degree day. Here I am in Texas already depressed by these 100 plus degree days hiding in my hotel room with the AC turned down to 65 and with the curtains tightly closed to the ridiculously bright sun. TV turned onto unnecessary and unwanted background noise. But then there is this commercial, again. A commercial with snow in it. A car commercial with snow it in and in one hour I believe I have seen it 5 times. Car Company showing a commercial excited about showing how their car handles in the snow and the awards it has won for great handling. In the snow.

How much money did this company pay to show this commercial in the southern states in May where it is already the dead of summer and over 100 plus degrees outside, in the freaking shade? Could they be any more clueless or wasteful? Hardly.

Are you doing any advertising besides word of mouth? If so, WHAT are you doing and have you clearly indentified WHO are you talking to? Are you talking in the language your customers are most comfortable using? Are you spending your advertising dollars on what your customers want and need to hear? Are you flying by the seat of your pants with your advertising budget or are you getting trusted professional advice? Can you account for your advertising dollars and are you tracking the result of their expense?

Please commit to being dialed into what your customers need to hear about your company and what it has to offer. Please commit to being effective with your advertising campaign. Please committ to NOT advertising by the seat of your pants.

The commercial just came on AGAIN! The Mitsubishi Highlander. It’s won five awards for the way it handles in the snow. Just saying… I’m turning the AC down, again.

Feeling Like a Winner!

What a relief it can be to lose! There is a liberating feeling to be able to say, ‘you win’ and ‘I give’. We are taught that the best highs come from winning. From coming out on top. From getting what you want or think you want. Believe me now when I tell you a high can come from saying, ‘you win and I am not playing this game anymore’.

I have been in a loose, loose situation. A situation that I knew I would never ‘win’. I didn’t want to ‘win’ nor did I want or ask for the fight. I wanted everyone to play nice and get along or even pretend to get along because, frankly, there was no grown up reason not to. I was mistaken. I wanted to be a grown up and move forward with mature boundaries. Unfortunately, I was the only one who felt this way.

I can remember feeling this way only once before. I had to fire a customer. Yes, you heard me right. I had to fire a a very demanding customer. One who felt they knew my job and the abilities of my company better than I. A customer who felt it was within their right to boss my employees around and make unreasonable demands. This customer pushed the envelope in directions that I was not willing to go for reasons that were sound. So, I fired them and took the negative energy my employees and I were sending in their direction and turned it into positive energy that went in new and very productive directions. It was a whole ‘close a door and open a window’ event and the result was stronger business and better customer relationships elsewhere.

Was this an easy decision? No, not at all. This customer paid on time and did great business with my company. They were a top 10 customer many months in a row. I lost a lot of sleep over the thought of losing their cash flow. But, they were draining me and my staff’s emotional energy in an unhealthy and unprofessional manner. So, I had to finally be responsible and fire them.

Just like now, I’ve been backed into a corner and as a result have reached firing mode. I’ve lost and in loosing I hope to feel like a winner. In loosing, I plan to move forward. When is the last time you were happy to loose and in doing so moved forward? When was the last time you closed a door and a window miraculously opened?

Visit: www.recipesfromalife.com

National Release Day Book Signing Celebration May 24th! RSVP at www.fineartaustin.com