“The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The realist adjusts the sails”

Good Saturday Morning!

This time of year is all about BIG volume and NEW employees. Your “ship” has probably tripled in size!

This leads to many challenges that you don’t face on a regular basis. It calls for leadership on a level that is not required of you on a regular basis, which leads to 3 options…

1. Complain – Easiest option, and not a solution.

2. Hope for better – Easy as long as you can act naive. Not a solution.

3. Add Value to others – Not actually hard at all, but it takes leadership! Total solution.

“Slowing down doesn’t mean accomplishing less; it means cutting out counterproductive distractions and the perception of being rushed.”

Using the 3rd option will obviously cause us to make more money.

It’s about FOCUS. Where is your focus?

On doing everything even though you have triple the teammates? (Overwhelming)

Or doing the MEANINGFUL stuff, while teaching others the small stuff? (Outsourcing)

Teach and trust others to do the small things, so you can slow down with the people and impact their selling which will impact their lives!

Then you can SELL and TEACH :-)
Have a HUGE Saturday!

-NG

“The people that are going to be successful are going to find advantages in any situation.” -Tim Ferriss
It’s a mindset thing. A positivity thing, and a humbleness thing…but no matter what it’s a “ME” thing. As in, no matter what we’re given in life, we can and will succeed with it.
Last night I saw a video of a kid that took 2 things that are seemingly unrelated, and is now making a name for himself off of it. 1. He works at Walmart – Yes, blue vest and all 2. He can dance. – Like REALLY dance
He’s now got videos going viral, featured on the news, etc etc. I’ll tell you this…that kid was going to be successful no matter what, it was just a matter of time and people would be paying attention to him. All it took was one Drake song/dance to get popular!
We all have our own “situation”, and career-wise they all take place at work. Then we have an area where our performance is weaker than we’d like.
We all have the same tools, we all have the same customers more-or-less, the only difference is where we put the EFFORT.
Is the effort in IMPROVING and CHANGING the approach when something isn’t working? Or is the effort in looking for a reason “we can’t”? Are we working hard AND working on the right things?
You have an advantage over everyone else, but it takes WORK to find it. Meaningful work! Stay positive and keep grinding, you’ll find it. And when you do, your success will have a VIRAL feel to it too :-)
Thank you!

-NG

Good Wednesday morning!!
Most of you have heard me say, “Tell me the story” plenty of times. It’s my favorite follow up question because usually when a person tells you something, they hit 3 main points and they rush the whole thing. So by asking them to tell you the story, you’re really saying that you want ALL the details.
It works great in interviews. It works great with arguments. It works great in problem solving… And it works great with numbers!
“I’m just using the numbers to tell me the story.”
The last few days/weeks I’ve sent some messages and had some conversations where I say bold statements like, “I don’t really care about numbers.” And it’s true, because I don’t. And you shouldn’t either! The numbers just tell us a story that our eyes might miss The numbers don’t do a single thing though. As in they don’t DO anything. You and your teams DO all the things that the numbers measure.

So what story are all YOUR numbers telling you?
Numbers are ULTRA important, but what we do is NOT about the numbers. It’s about the story the numbers tell, and that story is ALWAYS about the people and their actions (or lack there of)
Pick a number today and make it your WILL POWER to move that thing. Watch, you will too, as long as you stick with it and experiment with it, and ask for advice and help, and then DO the things that are suggested :-)
Thank you!

-NG

Good Tuesday Morning!
“My truest love is watching the ‘ahas’ go off in peoples minds.”
There is lots look forward to everyday when we wake up! But as I continue with my obsession of Values vs Tactics, one thing is becoming clearer and clearer…
All the things that I’ve chased over the years are truly important (Winning, SOPs, organized stores, training and binders, inventory etc etc etc…) But when I’ve ever been at the helm of a team that’s REALLY winning big, there’s been a common theme…
My passion is never tied up in the numbers. As a matter of fact, I almost ignore numbers. The passion lies in seeing how the numbers make other people feel.
I’ve always been able to FEEL that, but never been able to figure it out…until now!
It comes from a commitment to service, a desire to provide value, and a LOVE of teaching.
It’s CARE that fuels the whole thing. Care for other people.
It’s that counterintuitive part of life again! The more SELFLESS your actions, the more credit you get, the more followers you’ll have, the more success you enjoy, and accolades and awards will line your walls.
Care turns out to be true VALUE that matters most and cuts through it all :-)

-NG

This career that we have is a PEOPLE career. How we treat people. How we invest in people. How we chose people. How we interact with people. How we teach people. How we persuade people. How we lead people.
There is a ton of tactics that you can use to hep you.
Treat people as you want to be treated. Be deliberate about helping your team grow. Hire tough manage easy. Bring the energy. Never miss a moment to teach. Be charming, be yourself Lead from the front
It’s Values vs Tactics…
It comes down to this; How much do you care about people? When it’s not much, all those tactics won’t do much. When people are the single most important thing to you, those tactics are already a part of your life. The honest answer is probably somewhere in the middle of those two extremes, right? Make no mistake, when you’re values are further towards people being precious to you, your career will TAKE OFF. That one value will create culture, address issues, raise performance, build leaders, and CONSTRUCT LEGACY. It’s about loving them, putting your arms around them, and placing their needs before yours.
They don’t work for you. You work for them.
Thank you,

-NG