I don’t have an MBA and I don’t agree.  I think sales and marketing are distinguishably different from one another.  Marketing is an indirect attempt at selling.  I personally think it’s easier than selling and respectfully recognize that there are a whole lot of marketing managers who might disagree.  Selling is a direct action where individuals ask others to buy their stuff. The direct act of asking for the order can be, and is often, met with rejection.  Rejection is hard even for those with very thick skin.

Can marketing support sales?  Sure.  Can a good sales person create business without marketing?  You bet.  Can a sales person spend a lot of time participating in marketing efforts only to miss sales opportunities because they were indirect in their contact with a potential buyer?  Yes-Yes-Yes!

So what’s the answer?  I’m certain I do not have ALL of the answers.  I do believe when you spend millions of dollars opening a beautiful new facility that it makes perfect sense to have professional marketing materials that support the things you sell.

I also believe you must participate in a social media marketing effort; and that your social media must be managed with equal professionalism on a daily basis.  Marketing through social media gives us the opportunity to connect with our customers every day.  I’ll take it one step further to say that social media may be the first form of an indirect marketing effort turning into a direct contact or conversation with a customer because of the engagement between you and the customer, and the customer’s engagement with one another about your facility.

Finally, I feel that creating a well-trained inside and outside sales team devoted to the direct effort of selling your facility is THE single most important thing you can do to perform significantly better than you performed in the past.  If you want to be the leader in your industry, you must run a great operation AND create a strong sales team.  Gone are the days of “build it and they will come”… they may come once but competition is great.  Our attention spans are short.  You must market and sell your facility on a daily basis.

EVERYONE in you facility participates in the direct effort of selling you product or not. I walked into a bowling center in west Texas last week.  After waiting patiently for a couple of team members to quit talking to each other, I asked if I could get some information about booking a birthday party.  The young woman at the desk said nothing but turned her back to me to get an unprofessional copy from a notebook.  The “flyer” (and I use that term loosely) was tucked away from the eye of the customer.  It seemed like I was interrupting her in order to get the information.  Note: There was nothing going on in the center.  Not one lane of bowling was happening. The sales associate said NOTHING to me about booking an event.  No questions about the birthday person.  No information at all, she just handed me the sheet.

I then asked if she had any details about booking a group event.  Her short reply was, “The manager handles anything like that.”  This was a random stop. Though it’s not a random event.

Are your people product experts?  You can’t possibly know all the sales you are losing because you don’t have a system for selling in place.  I think you have to be ready ALL of the time to perform the direct act of selling if you intend to succeed at the highest level.

Wow, it sounds like I’m preaching this week…the business is out there.

How much of it are you getting to the bottom line?  How do your sales and marketing systems stand up to the competition?  Where are you spending your time and money when it comes to growing sales? Let us know in the comments section below!

On the way to the airport American Airlines called. When  the automated voicemail starts with, “I’m sorry,” you know your flight has been cancelled. Sure enough my 10:40 am flight to San Francisco was cancelled.

I waited a couple of minutes.  My son had ran into the store on our way. With my frequent flyer status they usually call me; and I just catch the next flight out.

Not so lucky this morning.  They did not call quickly enough so I called them. There was a flight at 9:15 am so if I had been my normal neurotic self, arriving at the airport a full two hours ahead of time then I would have been pulling into the airport with plenty of time to spare.

No such luck initially. I got a call while I was on the phone with an agent and they were trying to confirm me on the 9:40 pm.  That was a no go.  We have a reception at the BPAA Bowling Summit @ 6 pm.  It looked like I was going to have to fly another carrier.  Panic began to rear its ugly head.  Not only would I not have my first class seat, I’d probably wind up in a middle seat.  Then I will have to rush to the show floor after hoping my luggage and car work out OK.

Oh I can feel the panic mount.

And then, for a moment I chose peace  … I decide Jordan and I will have brunch at Blue Mesa and I’ll have him drop me off at the airport to hang out at the admirals club.

There’s not much I can do about the situation and I don’t really want to give all my energy over to panic and stress. It was awesome.  The work that I chose to do involves travel. With travel comes some of these moments. I have a choice and the reality is there are all kinds of options. Some are better than others and in the whole scheme of things this is just another day at work.

And then, just as they were getting ready to confirm the other flight the automated system called in and said my flight was departing at 9:55 am.  I can make that flight if I hurry! Now my peace is replaced with a little panic.

The agent made a note in my record that I was on the way. I drove somewhat fast but realized getting stopped would make me late so I split the difference between how fast I wanted to drive and the actual speed limit.

My son was a bit annoyed because as a normal person he can see that we were going to make it with time to spare. I have the added concerns of, “Will they let me check the bags … Is it really ok for me to zip in at 9:05 for a flight that was originally scheduled for 9:15?”  “Can I get through TSA in time?”  I know it’s snotty, but, “Will I get my 1st class seat?”

And the answers -  all the answers -  were yes. It all worked out just fine. The lady at ticketing wouldn’t give me seat.  But I did not stress too bad. Maybe I did a little, but I did not panic and this was one of those situations that can get me every time.

I can’t say how I managed with little to no panic this morning. Maybe it’s age or experience. I’d like to think that there’s a little wisdom and peace at work in my life.  I know for sure that I’m not the mellowing type but I am a good learner.

The point is:  There are a lot of things that can rile us up and hardly anything is worth the energy it costs.

Holy cow!!! There’s a ton of turbulence on this flight today

See you next week- I hope.

“Adwiser – The Proprietor”

This week’s note from our friend Adwiser was very timely.  I think the beginning of the year is a perfect time to revisit your plan, your vision, and the mission of how to accomplish all that you want to accomplish in the New Year!  As an entrepreneur it’s so easy to get distracted from the mission at hand as you chase every shiny ball that bounces your way.  Even if you don’t own the business I would suggest that you own your part of the business and that distractions can be the order of the day.

When it comes to sales, it’s very easy to move off the direct selling path on to marketing.  Marketing is about materials and getting the word out about what’s going on in your center.  It is not the same as selling.  The plan for sales is different or should be different than marketing.  When you market no one directly tells you no.  Marketing is an indirect act of selling.  Sales require you to directly ask buyers to purchase your stuff. 

Having a solid plan for the business or your part of the business is your key to success.  Stay focused.  You’ll know if you are winning or not and then and only then do you change course.  My friend Adwiser gives a few simple rules below as to how to stay the course:

A.    Affirmation’s

1. STICK TO WHAT YOU DO BEST.
2. Have ONE field and the harvest will sustain you. Have MANY fields and you may get consumed by insects and Eat Dirt.  (Could Adwiser be a farmer?)
3. Perfect and improve YOUR skills every day. (Practice and learn everyday)

B.     Criteria for Decision Making

 1. WRITE UP A CRITERIA (have one)

• Have you thought about how you make decisions?
• Do you know what it takes for you to say yes?
• Are there deal breakers for you with regard to decision making?

2. As with all worthwhile endeavors—Learn and be strong enough to make changes in your criteria when you discover a better choice or recognize that some choices are not sound.

3. Hoping, Wishing, and Crossing your Fingers are NOT strong CRITERIA for making decisions.

4. Strong GUT FEELINGS, INSTINCTS, and EXPERIENCE provide a better foundation and history for deciding how to best make decisions.

(When asked, a seasoned CEO’s reply about how she learned about how to have good judgment was a simple two word answer:  Bad Judgment)

C. Examples of useful CRITERIA-Think of the criteria as the (IT) of the decision…

1. WILL it CONTRIBUTE to our Business Model, and strengthen our operational and financial position?

2. What will it cost in terms of alternate opportunities, cash, and other resources?

3. Will it contribute to MAKING MY LIFE BETTER? This is the ROL or Return on Life investment in time, energy, & talent.

4. Can it help me spend more time with my spouse, children, friends, and other meaningful relationships which are really the measure of our value at the end of our lives?

ADWISER

What we know at TrainerTainment is that selling is all about being available to serve your customers. The number one key to success in sales is finding out what the guest needs and giving them just that. Sounds simple? It certainly can be! The first step to closing the deal is asking good questions.

Lets take the example of going out to dinner. Food service is a pretty easy sell over all right? I mean come on your hungry, you go to a restaurant, and you order food. It is unlikely that a person would sit down at a restaurant unsure if they wanted to make a purchase or not.  So we know that the food will sell itself, but what about the service. Where does the server really make their cut from the experience?

Gratuity is the take home for anyone working in a service-based business. In the example of food service, the server will see the quality of their service reflected from the tip they receive. This holds true for the Family Entertainment Industry as well. The amount of repeat business you have shows gratitude from your customers, and getting people back in your doors is dependent on the quality of service provided during each experience.  Today there are many activities for families to choose from, and quality service can help your center stand apart from the rest.

When you go to a restaurant your server will take your drink and food orders, and if they deliver the right order in a timely fashion you will be satisfied with the service provided. In this scenario we all expect quality service, and it is easy to know what questions to ask about dinner. When it comes to party or group event planning though the conversation becomes a bit more complicated. How can you structure the right questions from your employees to find out the needs of the guest?

As part of the Sales Shopper Program we train our clients on a successful selling method that is built around providing quality service. We train our clients to ask great questions that connect with the caller, qualify their needs, and close the sell. Finding out the needs of the guest makes it easy to achieve success. This is easily accomplished when the purchase is tangible – like buying food or clothing. Selling an experience, like a birthday party or group event, can take a little more skill. So, let the Sales Shopper team help design the perfect sales script for your center in 2012!

~ Amanda Standlee

“Social media done right is continuous brand engagement which is a careful mixture of content, quality, and volume. Spewing out spam (Shamelessly promoting yours or others products without offering significant value) whether on Twitter, LinkedIn or on a blog is not likely to be very effective for you.”

I found this post on LinkedIn.  A guy named Tom Anderson, who is actually a LinkedIn connection of a connection of mine, wrote it.  He responded to a post put out by someone who I do know.  While I’m not sure who Tom Anderson is, I liked what he had to say – in particular I liked how he said it.

We, TrainerTainment, were lucky enough in 2011 to recruit Brooke Ballard a real leader, and cutting edge researcher and thinker of Social Media.  During the last 10 months Brooke has talked a lot about engagement and relationship building with your Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms.

The thing that keeps coming back to us from our customer is “Show Me the Money!”  I think that’s a great command by you our reader. And so, I’ll pass that back to you. Can you give us specific examples marketing efforts that have given you a specific return on your money?

To me, marketing is more art than science. You have to do a lot of it. The great thing with social media is that you can market every day at a price that is affordable.  Did you resolve this year to dedicate 3%-7% of your revenue to marketing?  I did.  In today’s economy, the only businesses that will win will be those that invest in consistent sales and marketing.  They won’t visit your center or use your product unless you are top of mind.  There are too many distractions, competitors, and this economy is too shaky for you to depend on customer memory.

Finally, and I’ll stop preaching and pass this week’s message on to Brooke and let her tell one of our success stories with Social Media (She actually helped book holiday events through Twitter communication).

You’ve got to add a dedicated focus on sales, and excellent execution to your marketing resolutions.  I’ll talk more about those topics in the coming weeks.

Happy New Year!

~ Beth

We’ve been working with Shenaniganz for over six months now. By having daily conversations on Facebook and Twitter, we’ve really been able to get in touch with our community. We know that “likes” and followers aren’t enough to fuel social media in a monetary sense, so we work hard to look for ways to start conversing with or fans and followers.

When someone checks in – we say welcome and hello. If someone mentions they had a great time at our facility, we tell them thank you and remind them of our upcoming specials. It’s never contrived and ALWAYS sincere.

After working diligently on Twitter for several months, we started to see more and more people mention Shenaniganz. Each time, we’d thank them and try and spark a little conversation; “Glad you had a great time bowling! Did you know we have a contest to win 365 days of free bowling?! Check it out: (insert link here).”

One day, a mommy blogger mentioned Shenaniganz, and as always, we used it as a catalyst to start a conversation. The conversation, which took place over several days, produced two Holiday party leads (her husband’s company and her sister-in-law’s company), a mommy blogger group following us on Facebook and Twitter (of course they all ran to our Facebook page to like us and enter that free bowling contest for their kids!), and countless sign ups for our newsletter (the lure of our “12 Days of Giveaways” for the Holidays was just too exciting for these moms to pass up). This mommy group often shares or retweets our information out to numerous Dallas moms – an act that is priceless in the FEC world.

Of course, true (and good) conversation is an art, and had we thrust our deals in this mommy’s face we probably wouldn’t have gotten the same results. But we cultured the relationship, we showed that we cared, and we offered to help – which is what social media is truly meant to do.

If you want to make money using social media like Shenaniganz, stop focusing on the “media” in social media and start focusing on the SOCIAL. Yes, Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites are great advertising platforms. But as with any great thing, the more you work it, the more it will work for you – and ROI, or ROC (return on conversation) as we like to call it, takes dedicated, consistent, and thoughtful hard work!

~ Brooke

10. I regained my Executive Platinum status on American Airlines in November. This is a great consolation prize for flying more than 100 segments during the calendar year. The best thing is the elite treatment that comes with the prize. How are you treating your frequent flyers?

9. TrainerTainment had a many wonderful opportunities to speak this year at big trade show events like the DEAL show in Dubai, and IAAPA.

8. We were also blessed to be part of the education process with the BPAA Management School, and many state and local trade show events. Thank you all.

January: Helped facilitate the BOWL event at the Midwinter Summit and an all day training with Blue Ribbon Group in MI.

February: Presented to a group of more than 750 at the Mobile DJ Conference in Las Vegas.

April: Spoke at the DEAL Show in Dubai.

July: Was hot, hot, hot, as I got to teach all day for my favorite friends in Iowa. This is the second year in a row that we were invited to participate in a great education day for their State BPA. CJ Fox, from the Lighting Store along with many other wonderful vendors help sponsor this great event.

I also participated in Howard Baum’s BPA show for the great states of GA and the Carolinas. Howard really knows how to put on an event but my dog did not win this year. I am looking for a rematch in 2012!

The end of the month included the MI state meeting, a presentation for Bounce-U and I was invited for an all-day event with Todd Britton and his Centers in Winnipeg Canada!

August: We returned to MI and did two education pieces for the RSA Chapter in that area. I had the terrific opportunity to do a BPAA management school with the Bowl New England group as well. I also got to deliver a keynote for a software company on discovering your passion in August! This was a neat departure from some of the stuff we normally do and it went very well.

September: For the 2nd year in a row I got to teach at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. It is a humbling experience to teach there.

October: Was busy. We had the opportunity to teach at the Mid South Show (6th year). Thanks DeWayne! We attended the TX idea share and the East Coast Show.

November: IAAPA (thanks Gregg Boreman for making that happen).

December: Got to participate with our Gattis Management team! Love you guys. If I missed anyone please forgive me…and if we didn’t come see you know that we would like to get on your 2012 Calendar.

7. A Huge Highlight of the year happened at the Mobile DJ show. I got to meet and shuffle with the Cupid! “To the right to the right…kick now…walk it by yourself”!

6. My daughter Amanda joined our team as the project manager for our sales shopper program. If you want to grow you party sales right away you need to pick up the phone now and call Amanda @ 808.268.9892 or email her at Amanda@trainertainment.net

5. We’ve added wonderfully talented full-time staff to our team: Dave Patton is a terrific trainer and an e-learning wizard. Watch for our first e-learning product to be released in Jan. It’s all about group sales and goes right along with our new group’s handbook. I think you’ll love Dave’s “Fun Training-Serious” results style. His wit is awesome and his kindness is something you just can’t miss. Please let us know if you are interested in any custom e-learning project. Dave is your guy!

4.  Brooke Ballard, our Marketing Director and Social Media Project Manager is just brilliant.  Her experience has helped us create an amazing social media support product that has helped increase sales across the board for our clients.  Don’t you miss out on all we can do for you.  Contact Brooke @ brooke@trainertainment.net or 484.886.8032

3.  Growth and change has been the theme for us at TrainerTainment this year. Celebrating our 6^th year in business is just amazing. We’ve had the opportunity to work with some terrific customers and that learning has helped us be a better company in 2011 than we were in 2010 or 2009 or… you get my drift.  With that said I know that we could not be where we are today without all the people, customers, years, and experience that have come before this year and I’m so grateful for all if it!

2.  Vistage. I have to mention Vistage, my CEO group, and Nancy the chair of that group.  I belong to a wonderful group that includes eight other business owners (all different from my company).  This is a brain trust and a monthly accountability board of trustees that make a huge difference in my ability to be the leader I need to be as I grow this company and serve my staff and our clients.  I could not do it without you all.

1. My family and friends.  I guess David Letterman’s list is a funny list.  As I look over mine it looks a little mushy; but is there a better time to reflect on the year and say thank you?  I think not.  I’ll try to be funny next time ; ).  I am (and so the company is) blessed beyond measure to have such a supportive family and an amazing group of friends that put up with my crazy schedule.  I could not be me without these people in my life. The depth of encouragement and support is completely un-measurable.  I don’t know how to thank you all.  So many of you that are customers have turned in to those supportive friends and I thank you.  It makes it all worth it.  There is actually a blurred line sometimes about who’s family and who’s friend… Love you all and I hope you know who you are.

Well that’s it-My top 10 for 2011.  I’m sure I could continue to ramble on… But I’ll leave you with a Happy New Year wish and encourage you to put your top 1 or 2 or 10 out on our Facebook or blog.

Beth

It feels good to get presents! As boy I wanted Christmas presents like a Red Ryder BB rifle—even though I might have shot my eye out. Now as a man, I value the presence of my family over any presents they might give me–and they’ve never shot an eye out. Except for Uncle Jim, but that was long time ago.

Anyway, whether it’s loved ones at the holidays, customers at your business, municipal judges or even roommates, people like presence. They come to your FEC because having fun in the presence of loved ones is one of the most meaningful experiences humans have.  It feels good to get presence!

I’ve got to admit I’m not always fully present with people in my life.  Take one of my roommates, Matt, who selects his words so carefully that he pauses to retrieve his mental thesaurus before choosing. Every. Single…word. Ugh!

Late one night, Matt began a tome of snail-paced comments about a roommate conflict and suddenly proclaimed, “Wow, you’re really listening to me!”  I had to think about that. Usually my mind was running a mile-a-minute thinking of how to speed up the conversation and finish what I had been doing before Matt started talking or would do next after he was done—like writing a TrainerTainment newsletter article.  Late at night was easier to give my presence simply because I had completed my work and didn’t have anything to do next.

No wonder Matt didn’t speak to me often.  I was not present and that did not feel … good.

The odds of customers wanting your presence only when you have nothing to do next are as likely as flying reindeer allowing unlimited baggage on all domestic flights. Busy or not, customers want your presence. Hopefully, your customers speak faster than … Matt!

It’s so easy to give a customer half my presence when “I” am really busy, when “I” think it’s not my job, and when “I” am already thinking about what’s next on my to-do list.

For example, each week I phone FECs to book birthday parties as part of our Sales Shopper Program.  I often hear “One moment, please” or  “Can I take your name and number and call you back?”

It can also be easy to give a customer a moment of FULL presence and make them feel much better about your business.

Here’s one way to do it: Just shoot your “I” out! That’s right.  Remember this, I’m gonna shoot my “I” out and let you know I heard what you’re about!  I promise your resilient “I” will instantly grow back. Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my “I” if I’m wrong.

Your party reservationist can think “I’m gonna shoot my “I” out and let you know I heard what you’re about! “ then they can say, “That’s fantastic! We have the best birthday parties in town! Who’s the party for?  Jack? And how old is Jack? Four!?!  What a fun age! Great! Listen, I’ve got an appointment with customer now.  I want to call you right back in 15 minutes to talk about throwing the best birthday party for little Jack, ever!  What’s your name and number?”

It can be that easy: I’m gonna shoot my “I” out and let you know I heard what you’re about!

We can all create opportunities to change how customers and family feel by giving just a moment of our full presence even if we’re busy.

Christmas may only come once a year, AND we can give presence everyday! So DO shoot your “I” out!

That reminds me.  I’m going to call Uncle Jim.

~ Thad Crouch

TrainerTainment Trainer

No matter I thought that with only a few days left until Christmas I’d share the 10 things that seem to help me the most.

1. I expect something amazing to happen each day. I look for it and call it out when I see it. It might be something as simple as the interaction with TSA as I went through security today.  The lady checking ID’s was awesome. She cared about what she was doing.  She was incredibly nice to everyone. I told her so. I’m telling you, it made me feel great!

2.  I try to see challenge as opportunity. When something looks too hard it’s easy to want to quit. Sometimes I take that path; but most of the time I dig in and find a way to win!  That feels great and is a big attitude booster.

3.  I think about my children. I know this one doesn’t work for those of you who don’t have children but for me it’s huge. If ever I’m down on me I think of how amazing my grown up children; are and I know that my husband and I must be pretty good people!
4.  I work. There’s no substitute for just getting after the task at hand. I find that a lousy attitude can be overcome with a successful sales call. You can’t have that call if you don’t get out the door or pick up the phone. Just do it.

5.  I eat chips and queso. Okay, I know that’s not the best idea but sometimes nothing else will do.

6.  I ask for help. It’s unbelievable how effective this one is. I forget that I have a ton of wonderful people in my life that are interested in helping me. By the way, if you are reading this newsletter I want you to know that at the heart of everything we do – is the FACT that we want to help you. Never hesitate to ask me for help. I mean it!

7.  I take a nap. I’m not very good at this one; and my attitude or spirit has to be at an all time low to invoke this attitude enhancer.  When this happens I find that turning off the phone, turning out the lights, and turning down the covers is a great remedy for starting over. It may be 10 minutes or 2 hours but it usually works.

8.  Laugh.  I love comedy. I splurged and got satellite radio this year. Embarrassingly enough “blue collar comedy” is my favorite. I don’t know if that stuff is even funny in the north. You just can’t believe that most of that stuff can be true. But I’m from Arkansas and have cousins that prove out every story that they tell. I guess laughing at yourself is a great mood booster!

9.  Music. Music sets a great tone. If you need something to pump you up call my friends at Control Play or Bowling Music Network and they will fix you up.

10.  Do something for someone else expecting nothing in return. You see, I don’t really think attitude has as much to do with your head as it does your heart. When your behavior reflects the good things that are in your heart then the attitude or mood that you carry in your head must follow.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all.

What things do you do to stay up in a down economy – and what keeps your glass half full? Let us know in the comments section below!

Hark! Here comes eLearning, shroud in a long, flowing cape, draping it around us and hiding our failures from the masses. What a hero!

Even though nobody likes to admit it, optimists are sometimes correct. In this case, they hit the nail on the head when they said failure is an opportunity to learn from your mistakes and carries with it the seeds of success. Failure is a powerful learning tool, especially when paired with the opportunity to correct your mistakes. Behaviors are changed, objectives are met, and retention improves. I mean, can you think of a better way to not repeat past mistakes than a hard fought, well- earned blow to the ego? I certainly can’t. A well designed eLearning course provides learners with a safe arena to fail, repeatedly, if necessary, but most importantly, it lets you fail privately. And then it lets you succeed.

With the coming of the New Year, TrainerTainment will be proudly launching its new service, The Virtual Classroom. Our simulated environments and situations will place the learner in real-life scenarios where their decisions will have an impact on the outcome of the course, where mistakes are possible, perhaps even likely. Their ego may take hits, but will do so with nobody around, so it can be denied later, leaving the ego unharmed, if not stronger for the wear. And performance will be improved, which is awesome, because if it wasn’t, we’d have almost completely, but not entirely successfully, failed.

Be on the lookout for upcoming news and updates on the TrainerTainment Virtual Classroom.

We at TrainerTainment cordially invite you to come fail with us. You’ll be amazed at the success you achieve!

Quick Inspiration To Start Your Week…
from Rick Houcek

Success Achieved Honorably Requires No Apology: Is it just me, or is anyone else fed up with these protesters who are turning beautiful city parks into trash-littered dump sites? On TV, I have yet to hear two protesters articulate the same group purpose. Some admit they came hoping there was free food. They’re confused, unorganized, and their ranks are dwindling. A guy in Atlanta has become the unofficial spokesperson for the local group and captures all the on-air face time. If he channeled his initiative more productively, he could have his own reality TV show by now.

I have empathy for people out of work, but no sympathy for those who blame ambitious achievers for what they don’t have. Get real. The media claims the movement’s slogan is “We are the 99″ referring to the wealth gap between the wealthiest 1% of Americans and the other 99. Well, I’ll speak for the 1%. My clients are all entrepreneurs, CEOs, presidents, senior executives and managers who run companies that employ, in total, hundreds of thousands of people who, in turn, provide good lives for their families, enjoy vacations, and send their kids to college. Their companies provide useful goods and services (bought by protesters), and they are the engine that runs America. They take financial risks and make sacrifices the 99% wouldn’t dare. They’re honest, hard-working, relentlessly overcome obstacles, tenaciously improve themselves, care deeply about their employees, and donate large sums (quietly) to worthy causes. Yes, they make a lot of money and deserve every penny. Are they corrupt? No! (Sure, there’s a 3% ‘dishonest fringe’ in every people category. But 97% of the 1% are exactly as I have described.) We should be protesting the protesters, who expect handouts and entitlements in return for nothing. Question for You: If you’re in the 1% – or aspire to be – are you embarrassed by your ambition and success? For heaven’s sake, stop it. Man up. You need not be boastful, but be proud, not ashamed, and never apologize or feel guilty for triumphs achieved honorably.

Power Thought: “If you truly want a better life, do whatever it takes. Otherwise, give yourself and those around you a break and just admit you don’t want to pay the price, that you’d rather whine and complain than step out of your comfort zone and do what’s necessary to make things better for yourself.” John Assaraf, author, speaker, entrepreneur.
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