Street Retreat 2009 Introduction

Homeless starting today

Starting at 5pm, I will be homeless. For the next 48 hours, I am participating in a retreat but not the kind of retreat you are thinking about. A retreat to the streets of Austin. With Mobile Loaves and Fishes (MLF at www.mlfnow.org)

I will have no food, no water, no wallet, no phone, and no money. But I will have and make new RELATIONSHIPS! As we talk about all the time in our speeches and seminars, we all need to get uncomfortable in life...comfortably uncomfortable. We all need to get out of our ruts and routines to get from "Here" to "There". We can't get to "There" by doing the same things that got us to "Here".

I can't wait for this journey and experience. Follow this and we will update often on this experience. I will be back Sunday night. See MLF thoughts below:

The only cost for this experience is your time. All are welcome. If now is the
time for you realign your priorities around what is really important, and you
feel the call to step out of your comfort zone and experience Christ in a deeply
moving and powerful way, Street Retreat might be for you. Leave your
phone, PDA, wallet, and appointment calendar, and step into a
world of the least of our brothers and sisters...the real world.

“He commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a staff only: no bread, no wallet, no money in their purse…” Mark 6:8

Cannonballs!

I remember as a kid doing cannonballs over and over again; trying to make each splash bigger than the rest. The whole goal of the cannonball is to make a HUGE SPLASH!

Look at your business and career...are you doing a cannonball and making a HUGE SPLASH?

Some ideas to make a HUGE SPLASH and some cannonball thoughts:

• Attitude is everything....GO FOR IT! and DO IT NOW mindset
• Think HUGE!
• Execute daily
• Teamwork....everyone in the company needs to be marketing
• Consistency is key (consistent marketing, consistent action)
• Use Time wisely...no waste is the key
• Think outside the box!
• Be intentional on making a HUGE SPLASH!

Stand out today by making a HUGE SPLASH with your company. It really doesn't take much other than some courage and action.

What if....

Below is an exchange between myself and a woman looking to start a business:

She: "What if I fail?"

Me: "What if you succeed!"

It's all about Attitude and how you see the world!

Question submitted

Chris, How can I get more customers?

Consistently the best way to get new customers is through networking. But why don’t more people actually do networking? We find the answer is because it takes time and consistent effort. In today’s world, we all are trained to want instant results and immediate. Lose 15 pounds in 15 minutes; Grow hair in a weekend; 5 minute meals…are some examples of our instant results world. Just think about it, when someone goes through the “express lane” at the grocery store with over the 15 item limit, we are mad and rolling our eyes! (oh, don’t pretend you don’t do that!)

Networking is by far the best way to get new customers. And the best thing about networking is that when done properly, you can create awesome relationships that can turn into great sources of referrals, repeats, and customers for life. How do I network? Many people make networking way to hard. Start with your circle of influences and make sure you remind them who you are and exactly what you do. That’s as hard as you need to make it.

Let’s define your circle of influence. We define your circle of influence as anybody who knows your name! That is considerably larger than most people’s definition. When we ask the marketplace to define the circle of influence, we tend to get answers like neighbors, co-workers, spouse’s co-workers, friends and family. Something like that. But in reality, the circle is so much bigger than that. When you network think about your circle of influence as more like this:

· Friends
· Family
· Neighborhood
· Vendors you do business with (if you write a check to a vendor, they should be helping your business!)
· Co-workers
· Spouses contacts and circle of influence for spouse
· Spouses co-workers and employment
· The school family where your kids go to school
· Former employers and former co-workers
· Businesses by your office
· Any groups that you belong to (civic groups, chambers, church groups)
· Your associations
· Clients
· Referrals
· Former clients
· Your clients network base

As you can see, you can never run out of networking opportunities. In addition to the above list, in our own business, we network by meeting new people every single day. Think about and ask yourself this: What would my business look like if I just met one new person every single day? For most of us, the answer is obviously that our business would substantially improve. Networking this the best way to grow your business for success in the long-term.

Question submitted

Chris: What can I do to remain positive and upbeat with today’s marketplace?

The first thing to do is shut off the TV and media. Statistics tell us the negative sells in the media. How many times do you turn on the TV and the lead story is about something so positive and motivational? Never! The TV and media is all about creating drama and going negative….because that is what sells. With the average person having the TV on about 8 hours per day, it’s no wonder the world feels a bit negative!

We know so many people today who are consumed with the marketplace news and that is affecting their attitude in a huge negative way. (one person we know watches marketplace news some 12 hours a day....and he feels full of junk and funk....no wonder!) Just think about this: What positive news can come from the being consumed with the economy, or the stimulus package, or the stock market, or credit issues? NONE! And besides that, how many of us can actually control any of those things? NONE! So given that, how much sense does it make to put attention, time and focus on any of that stuff? NONE!

We want you to look objectively at your R & R….your ruts and routines. In real life, what are you doing on a daily basis? Those ruts and routines will determine your attitude to a hard degree. If your routines are full of negativity, guess what your attitude will be? Yes you got it; negative. There is no way around that. But also the flip side is fortunately true as well. If your routines are full of positive influences, guess what your attitude will be? Yes POSITIVE. To remain upbeat in today’s marketplace, you have to INTENTIONALLY work on your attitude.

Fill your life with positive surroundings and your attitude will be positive. Be surrounded and consumed with:

· Positive People
· Positive Routines
· Positive Thoughts
· Positive Behavior
· Positive Coaches, Support Group
· Positive Quiet Time for just you to work on you
· Positive Action and Execution of your plan

Be intentional about your attitude and remain positive....I got an idea for us to be positive: how about this....let's go out and just sell something to somebody today!

Feel free to send me an email on a question you have and I will be sure to answer it.

Bottle of Patience

Does anyone else need a bottle of patience?

As we talk to business leaders across the country, we are finding that patience is in short supply. In these times of chaos and uncertainty, the pressure is absolutely increasing and with that, patience is decreasing. Point blank, some are in a panic with no patience whatsoever.

I get it. But I also get, that is not the answer. Our business issues did not happen overnight and can not be fixed overnight. It just takes some time and takes some patience. We all need to do a business, professional, and personal TIME OUT! Let's take a time out to step back and take a deep breath. Just relax for a second. And then:

• Focus on Attitude
• Develop a plan
• Measure and track (what you don't measure you can't manage)
• Daily Focus
• Do the Basics (work the phones)
• Sell something to somebody (every single day or working on those efforts)....how about that for an idea?
• Monitor cash flow

And Practice some Patience. Better days are clearly ahead. Hang on because they are coming!

Sign up Today!

We are hosting an awesome half day course at Barton Creek Country Club. Don't miss this.

On March 17th, we are going to give you 50 ideas of things we CAN be doing in this time of chaos. You know....there is so much negativity in the marketplace; so much confusion; so much uncertainty. Everyone is talking about things they can't control and shouldn't be worrying about...i.e. stock market, economy, stimulus package...on and on.

But nobody is talking about what we CAN do in today's marketplace and what we should be putting our energy on...Until now. We wrote this motivational seminar giving you real life concepts that you implement in your business today.

Sign up today!

5 Quickies for Leadership

5 Quick Hits for Leadership (quick but a ton a depth behind each of these)

1. Leaders have a crystal clear vision and can clearly communicate this vision
2. Leaders love relationships! (employees treated like customers)
3. Leaders seek objectiveness (look for contrary opinions)
4. Leaders inspire others to dream and think big....seek other's ideas and opinions
5. Leaders serve....quick to listen and slow to talk

Take some time and intentionally digest each of these and work on growth plans for each.

To NOT Do List

In Charlotte NC today where I am doing three speeches over the next couple days. Since we travel a bit, we tend to get a front row seat to the not so good in customer service....mainly airlines.

But we can learn from this. In today's business, we all need a To-Do List and most of us have those. But equally, if not more important, is a To-NOT DO List.

Do you have a To-NOT Do List? If no, make one.

What don't you want to do in your customer experience? Make a list and make it intentional.

For the airlines, I am going to help them out (and may give you some thoughts as well for your business)

Do Not Do:

• Ignore customers when they ask questions
• Ever lie to customers
• Talk when customers are talking (Listen first)
• Blame others when problems happen
• Make excuses that are false and don't make sense (our vendor ran out of coffee...in all of Dallas there is no coffee?)
• Delay and loaf around
• Look at your computers when customer wants face to face communication
• Talk on the phone in front of a customer

In your business, what do you never want your customers to experience? Make a list and train every single person in the organization on it.