Passion Is Everything! Or What Would Steve Jobs Do?

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying, I’ve done something wonderful. That’s what matters.” – Steve Jobs

What came up for me as I listened to the interview was how many times I had settled, allowed fear to keep me stuck, and didn’t reach my goal because I was afraid to think big and dream big. People come to me everyday who are living life drifting along accepting the status quo, only to finally wake up and realize they could have had more if they’d only taken action earlier to act upon their dreams.  I have come to realize that life is meant to be lived with passion and purpose, think bigger and bolder about myself, and help others do the same. The universe will test you to see if you are serious. Be aware.

1.   Never Settle. Do what you love no matter what it is. Passion is everything. How many of you live your lives at half mast, settling for less than what you want because you think that is all there is so you’d better take it? Or you were afraid that you might fail.

2.   Put a dent in the universe with big, bold clear visions. Follow your heart. You will never know what you can achieve until step out. There was no doubt where Steve wanted to go and what his visions were. What about you? Are your visions clear?

3.   Say No to 1,000 things. Focus. Simplicity. Reduce clutter in your mind and in your actions. It’s real easy to get blindsided by the bright shiny objects that take us away from what we truly want. Steve took his vision of 100 products down to 10 so that he could focus and achieve the results he wanted. He also decided that his daily uniform was going to be a black turtleneck and blue jeans so he didn’t have to think about what he’d wear that day.

4.   Kick start your brain.Always keep an inquiring mind. You have to keep asking different questions to get different results than you have been getting. Surround yourself with out of the box thinkers.

5.   Sell dreams, not products. Innovation is key. People don’t buy products: they buy the experience of what that product is going to do for them and how they are going to feel once they have it. Are you selling your clients dreams or products?

6.   Create insanely great experiences.When Steve opened his first Apple Store, there were no sales clerks. There were Concierges to answer questions and there was a bar in the back of the store, not a liquor bar but a genius bar so that you could see and experience the result of having an Apple product.

7.   Master the message. Your success is directly related to how well you communicate your message. You can have the best product in the world, the most up to date information, but if you can’t communicate that experience to another person in a way that they can see themselves living it, you are dead in the water.

So, the next time you find yourself settling for less, stuck, following someone else’s dreams, giving up, resigned, ask yourself, what would Steve Jobs do? And then go do it.

And if you haven’t already got a copy of my book, Climbing The Ladder of Success In High Heels – Without Stepping On Your Values to jumpstart your heart and get you moving in the right direction, click here to purchase today!

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© 2011 Cookie Tuminello – Success Source, LLC

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Cookie Tuminello, THE Team Builder of the South, has been empowering teams and igniting productivity since 1999. Learn more about how Cookie empowers CEO’s, managers, business owners, and team members in her FREE Report “50 Ways To Go From Overwhelmed to Empowered” and receive monthly Success Tips at www.CookieTuminello.com.

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE? See the Free Resources Page on Cookie’s Web Site

Get a positive focus in your life for 2010…

Brrrr!

Winter has officially hit the South. Temperatures have been dipping down into the teens. For us Southerners that’s pretty chilly, but I love it. This past weekend I stayed in and did some reflecting and fine tuning on my goals for the coming year. I now have them completed for the year, but I also like to break them down into bite size pieces for more positive focus. So, I’ve decided to closely work with my mentoring coach to determine what I want to tackle in the next 90 days.

What about you? Have you got your goals broken down into doable realistic pieces? If not, you won’t want to miss my Smart Start Offer to get the support you need to achieve those big goals for 2010. The offer has been extended to Friday, January 15th so don’t miss out.

Just a Reminder! Starting February 2nd, Team Up With Cookie ezine will be published monthly. I will still be bringing you quality articles to motivate, inspire, and guide with proven business strategies to create the success you want and deserve in your business and your life – I’ll just be doing it monthly instead of weekly.

Also, in order to serve you, my valued readers, better, I’d like you to email me any questions that you’d like me to answer in future columns. You can send your questions to  Cookie@CookieTuminello.com and I’ll address them in my Ask Cookie segment.

This week’s Success Principle: It’s a brand new year and you’ve made some bold decisions on the direction you’d like your business to go, but something is definitely holding you back from putting your plans in motion. Is the fear of success holding you back?

Have a prosperous and productive week,

Love ya,

5 Surefire Signs You’re In Denial In Your Business

“It’s not denial. I’m just selective about the reality I accept.” – Bill Watterson

I think I’m having another Wake Up Alice/Alex moment. It’s time to come out of Wonderland people.How many of you are playing the role of King or Queen of Denial? You know, that’s when you think that if you don’t address a problem in your business it will go away. NOT!

You keep thinking that if you just work harder everything is going to get better, and miraculously your employees are going to get the message and do their part too. That would be another big NOT!

When was the last time you took a good hard look at your business? And I don’t just mean the bottom line on your balance sheet or bank account. Sometimes what you think is the reality may not always be an accurate observation. Sometimes we may need a little support seeing things from a different perspective.

Here are 5 surefire signs that you are living in ‘Denial-Land’ about your business:

1. Not recognizing when something is not working. You know that your product/service isn’t selling as well as it could be, plus you’ve heard rumblings of discontent from your team members around the water cooler. Yet what happens here is that you think the Good Business Fairy is going to make a surprise visit to your company, sprinkle magic dust, and miraculously your offerings are going to start flying off the shelf. Plus your team members are all going to come to work each morning wearing huge smiles and be chock-full of enthusiasm. Secluding yourself in your office and refusing to acknowledge that your business has problems isn’t going to fix anything. You need to face facts, figure out what isn’t working, and then make an action plan to address the problems before your business becomes another sad statistic.
2. Not taking necessary steps to change what’s not working. Okay, so you’ve identified what needs to be fixed and you put off doing something about it until tomorrow… and then the next day… then the next week… See where I’m going with this? No one likes change as it requires work, but when you’re in business, you need to be open to adapting new directions and concepts. Digging your heels in and saying things like, “Well, that’s how I’ve always done it in the past” isn’t going to cure the problems you’re facing today. If your product or service isn’t selling well, determine whether the cause is internal or external. If your team is not performing at optimum level, sit them down and find out what’s working and not working. You won’t know until you ask, so take the bull by the horns, move forward, and take action.
3. Not knowing your market and their challenges. You can have the absolute best product/service in the world, but who are you going to sell it to? Not knowing who your ideal client is and the problems your offerings are going to solve in their life is a huge mistake a lot of business owners make. Do an online survey of a random section of your potential clients. Ask them detailed questions to see if indeed that 30-40 year old woman, married with 1 child, working a full-time job, making $45K a year is interested in your newest mousetrap. You might be surprised at the answers you’ll get from surveys IF you ask the right questions.
4. Thinking your business is different than the other businesses out there. “Oh, that marketing approach won’t work for me because my business is different.” Really. You’d be surprised at how many times I hear that statement. If you’re in business, you’re in it to make money… period. If you’re not in business to make a living, then you’re a charitable organization. Don’t get me wrong here. I have the utmost respect for charitable companies, but if you’re an entrepreneur, then this is not the direction you want to take for your business. Whether you sell apples or advice is irrelevant, as having sound business practices and leadership skills in place applies to ALL business owners. We all need to network, have effective advertising/marketing collateral, and we all need clients. You as a person may be different, but the operation of your business isn’t.
5. Expecting your team and clients to be mind readers. Everyone is guilty of this step at some point. You tell “Jane” to take care of a certain project and then act surprised when 3 weeks later it isn’t completed. Hello! Did you give her explicit instructions on what you wanted done? Better yet, do you have an open door policy where if she ran into difficulty, she’d feel comfortable coming to you for more direction? I’ve yet to meet a bone fide mind reader, but I have met a lot of ‘guesstimators’ – people who ‘think’ they know what their leader is looking for and unfortunately fall flat on their face because they miss the target. Be clear and concise when giving directions to your team. Don’t make them do their job based on assumptions as well all know that happens in that scenario.

I know these steps might seem like a lot of work to you, but keeping your business on track requires work… period. And if you as the team leader, aren’t effectively leading the team, who is?

If you need help getting back on track in your business, email me at info@CookieTuminello.com for a Get Acquainted Session today.

Have a prosperous and productive week!

Love ya,

PS: Keep up with Cookie during the week… Join my Facebook family!

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© 2009 Success Source, LLC

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Cookie Tuminello, THE Team Builder of the South, has been empowering teams and igniting productivity since 1999. Learn more about how Cookie empowers CEO’s, managers, business owners, and team members in her FREE Report “50 Ways To Go From Overwhelmed to Empowered” and receive weekly Success Tips at www.CookieTuminello.com.

2 Steps That Will Motivate Your Team

“Teams do not go physically flat, they go mentally stale.” – Vincent Lombardi

In the midst of this recession in our country, company sales are down, layoffs are eminent, job security is dictated by numbers, and the remaining staff is overworked, overwhelmed, just trying to keep things going. And to top it off employee morale is at an all time low.

So, how do you keep employee morale up in a down economy?

Getting and keeping clients happy right now is always a number one concern, but what are you doing to make sure your employees are happy and productive? Your team members want to know two things: they want to know they matter, and they want to know, (and feel), they are making a contribution. If you, as a team leader, are grumpy, resigned, and basically on auto pilot and not paying attention, then what kind of message are you sending?

Now is the time for you to be having conversations to find out what excites and motivates them, what keeps them going. Because if you don’t, you could lose your key people and that is definitely not something you want happening in any type of economy. Plus keep in mind that businesses thrive on building and keeping win-win relationships, customers, and employees.

You can have all the incentive plans in the world in place in your business, but if you don’t know what makes your staff tick, you are dead in the water. If you want to know what it takes to keep them happy campers, then you are going to have to ask them.

There are three kinds of motivators: money, time, and recognition. Which one puts a smile on your team’s face?

Here are 2 basic steps to keeping your employees from going mentally ‘stale’ and unproductive:

1. Ask questions and be willing to listen to their answers. Keep in mind you are building trust with your employees. If you have valuable employees, you want to do your part to keep them happy, productive, and working as a cohesive team. Remember it costs more to hire and train new employees than to retain the great ones you already have in your business.
2. Be willing to make the changes necessary to create a happy, productive, positive environment for your employees. I’m not just talking about buying coffee and donuts for the team every Friday here. You need to know each individual’s particular personality and what they need to hear or get from you – basically which one of the 3 motivators I mentioned above that gets their creative juices flowing.

You’ve heard the saying, “When Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” Well, the same is true for your team. They are the foundation that keeps your company viable through thick and thin. And when it is all said and done, by knowing the motivators that keep your team satisfied, you will create more sustainable results and greater success in your business in every economic condition.

If you’re having trouble trying to figure out how to keep your employees motivated and productive, email me at info@CookieTuminello.com for a Get Acquainted Session today.

Have a prosperous and productive week!

Love ya,

PS:  Keep up with Cookie during the week… Join my Facebook family!

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© 2009 Success Source, LLC

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Cookie Tuminello, THE Team Builder of the South, has been empowering teams and igniting productivity since 1999. Learn more about how Cookie empowers CEO’s, managers, business owners, and team members in her FREE Report “50 Ways To Go From Overwhelmed to Empowered” and receive weekly Success Tips at www.CookieTuminello.com.

Want Change? Start with Patience!

“Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.”
– Richard Hooker

I couldn’t have said it better myself! As you know, I’m all for making changes to better our lives and businesses, but I have to admit that in the past 2 weeks my tolerance levels have been sorely tested. I’ve had to relearn patience skills and there were times that I’m sure my perseverance quotient on a scale of 1 to 10 was at -20.

As you know, I’ve been restructuring my business to better reflect the needs and desires of you, my valued clients. Consequently I’ve spent the last few weeks going over new designs, changing my website content, and doing a complete overhaul of my collateral. After jumping more hurdles than a sprinter at the Olympic Games, last week I finally hit the ‘wall.’ Nothing seemed to be working properly on my site and I found myself getting totally frustrated from juggling too many balls and putting out fires. At one point I even wondered why I was going through all this agony. I was not so lovingly reminded that change is great, but it definitely takes perseverance and patience to implement something new into your life.

I’m going to share with you two techniques that I adopted to get through this transition phase and still stay sane.

1. Just breathe. Phew! I’d forgotten about this one until I caught myself almost hyperventilating at the latest snafu. When overwhelm knocks you down, find a nice quiet place and comfy chair and let your body relax by taking 5 nice long, even breaths. Make sure you close your eyes and cancel out the chatter in your brain. In my case, I popped my Calming The Chaos Audio CD from my Personal Power Mini Pack in my computer. After listening to 5 minutes of my CD, I felt rejuvenated and once again able to tackle the next ‘breakdown du jour’ with a clear head.
2. Re-adjust your timeline, not your head. Remember that TV commercial where they tried to fit 20 or so people into a tiny compact car? That’s what happens when you try and do 50 things at once. Your brain is getting so many signals of what is a priority that it can’t figure out which one of the 25 tasks you’re trying to do is supposed to take the #1 spot. Setting deadlines is great to keep up motivated to reach the finish line, but there are times when we have to take a step back and determine if we need to re-adjust our timelines. When you find yourself unable to complete just one task due to your endless ‘To Do’ loop that’s playing in your head, then you know you have to adjust your schedule. As far as I know they haven’t discovered a 25th hour in the day, so be realistic in what you can and can’t achieve in your working hours. Plus when making that infamous ‘To Do’ list, make sure you prioritize it according to how much time is needed to complete each task.

Running around like a chicken with its head cut off and tearing your hair out isn’t going to make your changes happen faster. All you’re going to achieve is a raging migraine and the need to visit your hairdresser to purchase a wig!

Be patient with yourself, (and others), and know that everything will come together in its own time. That’s called perseverance – the knowing that all will be right with your world… just sometimes not on your timeline.

If you’re having trouble creating a vision and a plan of action for you and your team and need some direction, email me for a Get Acquainted Session today at: Info@CookieTuminello.com

© 2009 Success Source, LLC

5 Steps To Powerful Communication

**ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED – June 30th, 2009**

“You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.” – Lee Iacocca

One of the most frequent challenges I hear from professionals is, “My boss won’t listen to my ideas. I see lots of opportunities to make the company more successful, but every time I approach him/her, I get immediately shot down. How do I get him/her to really listen and accept my proposals?”

First of all, you can’t make your boss do anything, but you can set the stage for the best possible outcome if you create a plan of action before you meet with them.

The two main reasons people have trouble communicating powerful ideas is:

1. Their own lack of self confidence.
2. They don’t get clear about what they want before they have the conversations and end up coming across as not being fully prepared.

Your power and your identity is a direct result to your ability to make powerful requests, present powerful ideas, and handle difficult conversations with ease. Consequently, the degree to which you are competent at getting your point across clearly and succinctly is the degree to which you are successful in your business dealings, whether it is with your boss or your team.

First and foremost before you start designing your conversation, set a scheduled time, or make an appointment with the person you want to have the conversation with. Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity to present itself, like catching them in the hallway or waiting for them to be in a good mood. I’d say that 99.9% of successful professionals create their own opportunities in advance. Taking someone by surprise by the water cooler and trying to convey your ideas is not the best idea. By scheduling a specific time to go over your action plan shows the other person that you are serious about your ideas, and that you care about the success of not only yourself, but the company as well.

Here’s one of the main things to keep in mind: the key to effective communication is to be solution oriented, not problem focused. If you start off the conversation with, ‘If you’d only do…” type of statement, chances are you’re going to alienate the very person you’re trying to impress. Use the guidelines below to determine your conversation before you open your mouth to speak. (You’ll avoid shooting yourself in the foot if you follow these!)

1. What is your intention for having this conversation?
2. What is the breakdown you are addressing? Clearly define what’s working or not working.
3. What is your proposed idea? Is it economically feasible?
4. How will it benefit company? Additional revenue? Better systems?
5. How will you make it work? This is where YOU come in. Have a well thought out plan of how you’ll implement the changes should it meet with their approval.

Use these steps as a guide to practice getting your thoughts together. If you need to role play with someone, choose a person you know well and trust. Role playing does help you build your self-confidence and also gets you grounded in reality. I often do this with my clients and they tell me it works every time.

If you want to create a vision and plan of action that empowers you and your team and ignites productivity, email me for a FREE Get Acquainted Session today at: Info@CookieTuminello.com.

Are you a laboring artist or visionary?

**ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED – June 9th, 2009**

“An artist is not paid for his labor, but his vision.”
– Author Unknown

Amen.

Professionals in management and leaderships roles, tack this quote on your forehead if you want to become more productive and achieve more success. This quote may be talking about artist, but it applies to professionals in leadership roles as well. You can’t be up to big things if you continue doing the little things. Once you become a leader, your roll shifts from task oriented to visionary. Your ability to get things done and think outside the box is what got you to where you are, and your ability to enroll others in your vision is what’s going to keep you there. You now become the artist who paints a vivid picture for your team to follow. You set the intention, the expectations, the guidelines, and the support system in which your team can flourish and succeed. And then you get out of their way and let them do what they do best so you can do what you do best – build a vision.

This week, ask yourself if you’re showing up as a laboring artist or a visionary.

COOKIE’S “Wake Up Wednesday” THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

COOKIE’S “Wake Up Wednesday” THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

It looks like Ralph and I had the same thoughts today and it speaks to surrounding yourself with positive people.

Have a great day,

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THE DAILY MOTIVATOR
Monday, March 23, 2009

Positive beginning
+++++++++++++++

Would you spend your hard-earned money buying things you didn’t want or need? Of course not.

So why would you spend any of your precious and powerful thoughts on things you don’t want?

It makes much more sense to focus your thoughts on the positive, desirable things you would like to create and expand upon.

The thoughts with which you choose to fill your mind have a direct influence on the people, things, and events that surround your life. Every moment, with each thought, you have the opportunity to point your life in a specific direction.

The way you think about life plays a major role in the way your life unfolds. Again and again, choose those thoughts that resonate with a life that’s rich, joyous and fulfilled.

You think thousands of thoughts each day. Use the opportunity of each thought to push you toward the precise life you wish to create for yourself.

Everything in your world begins with a thought. So use your thoughts to give everything a powerful, positive beginning.

Ralph Marston