Archive for March, 2010

Today is the fifth anniversary of my business formation as Kmc Brand Innovation, LLC.  As I reflect upon these past five years,  I feel compelled to share some of my lessons learned with you, my fellow motivated business leaders.

Truth be told, my business was born out of necessity. I was in-between jobs and found myself in a precarious position. No company would hire me (at least not in my time frame or on my terms).

What a gift this turned out to be!

A networking friend, Alan D. Weber (a marketing professional who retrained himself and is now qualified as a certified financial planner with Merrill Lynch) gave me a good piece of advice. He suggested that I start consulting as a way to “keep the pencil sharp.” He also said I would be able to answer the question “What have you been doing with your time?” with a respectable answer “Oh, I’ve been consulting with various clients during my job search.”

After my first consulting engagement, I quickly fell in love with the freedom, the challenge and the idea of paving my own way in the world of work. Finding my first client was easy. I met Optometrist Dr. Leora Berns of Avon Eye Care at a Soroptimist meeting. She was looking for a marketing consultant to help her grow her medical practice. I was looking for my first client. It was a match made in Heaven. (Incidentally, it was feedback from Dr. Berns that led me to discovering my brand, Marketing Motivator. )

Perhaps I was blessed with beginner’s luck, but the entrepreneurial reality set in as I struggled to land my second and third clients. My misguided marketing pitch “I can do anything for anybody, because I’ve done all kinds of marketing in my 22 year corporate marketing career” resulted in no bites. I have since learned that if you attempt to be all things to all people, you will effectively be nothing to nobody.

The key to entrepreneurial success is to focus and specialize. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I facilitated a half-day workshop on the power of personal narrative in your presentations skills to forty non-profit professionals who have been trained in the area of trauma informed care for children, adults and families. The workshop was sponsored by my clients, The Traumatic Stress Institute, a division of Klingberg Family Centers. All forty of these amazing individuals had been trained in Risking Connection, a philosophy that supports the transformation to trauma-informed care and advocates for relationships and connections as the best treatment for healing traumatized children and adults.

In this workshop, we elected to focus on a specific skill with the field of presentation and public speaking – story telling. This blog post is designed to motivate and equip you to:

“Never make a point without telling a story. Never tell a story without making a point.”

Why tell stories?

Brain researcher John Medina, author of Brain Rules, suggests that story telling in presentations is a very effective way to “wake up” your audience and re-engage them. His brain scan studies show that the human brain fatigues every ten minutes or so. We must do something at minute 9 and 59 seconds, or we lose them. Medina recommends story telling and use of metaphors. (p.s. buying Medina’s book is a no-brainer. I highly recommend it!)

What’s makes an effective story?

Download this free workbook: Tell Stories Instead_9 page workbook

I was at the pediatrician’s office with my twin boys (age 13) the other day and a most remarkable thing occurred. We observed a very obnoxious teenage boy verbally abusing his little brother while the mother just sat there doing and saying nothing. The teenager spoke so loudly that you could not avoid his conversation. It was like verbal poison for everyone in the office.

I decided to hold my tongue, although I was tempted to say a few words. We walked out of that office and I said to my boys:

“Thank you for not being like that. Today we are going to celebrate what we are NOT.”

I took them to Cold Stone Creamery to get an ice cream, complete with chocolate dipped waffle cone!  Indeed, I was feeling grateful.

As I was driving home I thought about how profound the statement was: Celebrate what you are not.

We spend some much of our time and energy criticizing ourselves, condemning our circumstances and generally thinking negative thoughts. Sometimes we need a wake-up call to realize our true blessings. After all, most of us are not living and suffering in Haiti, one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, recently devastated in a massive earthquake.  For that alone, we should be grateful.

Here are a few things for you to consider:

• Accept who you are;
• Celebrate what you are not;
• Decide what you want to change;
• Get motivated and take action to make that happen.

Self-improvement is a life’s work and I believe it can only be accomplished when you accept and love yourself just as you are right now. You are building upon something already good. Don’t strive to be perfect, rather embrace your magnificence and that of other people. This is the platform from which you will make yourself and this world better.