Small Business Leadership and Sales Blog

Hello beautiful people. Let’s discuss today’s topic, which is “Lessons from Edison.” I get a little bit annoyed when people tell me, “Marvin, you’re working too hard” or “Marvin, you’re a workaholic.” Usually that advice is coming from someone who is currently employed by someone else on someone else’s payroll. In my mind I usually classify these people as non-dreamers, they are probably going nowhere extremely fast.

When faced with these types of comments the best thing to do initially is to consider the source. Are their comments and advice even worth listening to? I do think it is important to address the issue of “being a workaholic.”

Consider for a moment Thomas Edison. He lived to be 84 years old. As you know, Thomas Edison was was a great inventor. Did you know he was also a successful salesman and frequently worked more than 40 hours straight? Notice how long Edison lived. The reason he probably lived that long is because he worked instead of resting. The whole concept behind resting is overrated. Don’t buy into the myth that work kills, it just isn’t true.

Resting is overrated. I can prove it to you. When you get home, lay down flat for five straight days. On the sixth day you will need to be admitted to a hospital for all of the newly created illnesses and ailments you have. Even though you rested five days in a row, you are not doing your body any good.

What kills a person is unfulfilled work. What kills a person is uninspired work. In my opinion, nothing kills faster than indecision, laziness, mediocrity and the attitude of entitlement. If you spend a lot of time focusing on yourself and not focusing in on the benefit that you can share and be significant in other people’s lives, you will be unfulfilled.

If you spend too much time on yourself, you may find yourself getting lazy. Don’t fall for it, stay away from being mediocre. Stay away from the attitudes of entitlement. The things that matter for you most, are the things that you have to struggle for. Remember the “Lesson of Edison.” Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits. Forget Success, Focus on Significance.

Peace, Love and Gumbo!
Marvin LeBlanc, LUTCF, CNP

An Excerpt from Every Day is a Gift
by Barry Gottlieb

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be
happy, practice compassion."
-The Dalai Lama

What does "True Abundance" mean to you?

According to Wikipedia, the definition of abundance is "the opposite of scarcity." I believe true abundance is not measured by what you have; rather, it is measured by what you give.

In our culture, it seems that most people are caught up in their "need for greed." Perhaps this is why so many people struggle to find their happiness, and why over 25% of the people in our country suffer from anxiety. We live in a culture where we are taught to judge a person based on what they have, rather than on who they are and what they contribute to society.

I was very fortunate to have met a professor that changed my whole way of thinking. I was one of those people with a, "What's in it for me" attitude when I started his class. By the end of the semester though, my philosophy and my attitude had changed. Forever! This is what I learned:

"You can have anything you want in life, if you will just help enough other people get what they want." -Zig Ziglar

I challenge you to focus on this philosophy for an entire month! Here are some action steps that will help you stay focused on this incredible gift:

ACTION STEPS

Gratitude. Every night before you go to sleep, recite aloud at least ten things for which you are grateful.

Forgive. Let go of the past. Forgive those who have hurt or angered you. Stop carrying this poison around with you every day.

Love. Be sure to tell those people in your life who mean so much to you that you love them and appreciate them.

Donate. Go through your closets. Anything you haven't worn or used in the past year, box it or bag it and take it to a place where those who are less fortunate will benefit from your donation. Get your children involved!

Praise. Make time to praise. Look for and recognize the good in others.

Peace, Love and Gumbo!

Marvin LeBlanc, LUTCF, CNP

Hello Marvelous people!

Today we wish to share some fresh perspective on the value of embracing social media. I first came to hear, know & then work with EMerge about a year ago. The value & insights that are shared in this article needs to be applied to what you are doing in your industry. So, just because you may not be in Real Estate, the prinicipals in this article will give you the direction on, "WHAT"S NEXT?" in how we must market
to stay in front of the clients we wish to serve.
 
For those of you who's been patiently waiting to order my new book, "COME HELL OR HIGH WATER" -- you can now do so. Just click on the book cover to the right of this article & order it today. Thank you for all your feedback on the types of subjects you seek to learn about. Keep your feedback coming to Marvin@MarvinLeBlanc.com  Yes, I really do read every one of them myself.
 
Marvin LeBlanc, LUTCF,CNP
Chief Dream Catcher
 
 
http://rismedia.com/2011-07-06/the-long-song-of-technology-does-your-voice-make-the-cut/

Hello Marvelous People:

I recently participated in an online discussion. The topic discussed New Orleans Business. Are we closed minded & cliquish? Below you will see my response. Please post your comments.

New Orleans Business - Closed Minded & Cliquish?

We are known as one of the warmest, most welcoming fun loving places on the planet, yet I hear many say that when it comes to business we are in a world of our own. What do you think?....really. Should we seek to know what other larger cities are doing - or are we practicing it already?
 
My answer.

It's sad really. Most folks are resistant to change and when the change comes knocking on your door (Katrina), you're forced to embrace it. There's a mental internal struggle going on with my clients. I served St. Bernard Parish for 18 years & now serve multi-parishes from my new location in Jefferson Parish. Those that are "Past Based" (Close-Minded) have not moved forward. Those that are "Future Based" (Open-Minded) have not only built new, different and better relationships, but they are prospering better in their Post-Katrina world.
 
A question was posed in a meeting (not by me). If you could have your "Pre-Katrina" life back would you want it or would you want the life you have now?
 
The response I witnessed was amazing.
 
Do you know that in a group of 30 people, only 1 person would want their "Pre-Katrina" life back? When you just read this question, how many people did you think would raise their hand? More than 1? Me too.
 
What I drew from that is that these 30 business owners did successfully CHOOSE to embrace new people, new changes and in doing so, now prefer their "new" life. They were able to succeed in spite of the Closed Minded and the Cliquish.
 
The future of New Orleans area is stable and solid. It is true that business is spikier & you must be smarter. But business is not impossible.
 
Remember, "WHEN NOTHING IS CERTAIN, EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE".
Each "one" of us can change the world. Seriously.

Peace, Love and Gumbo!

Marvin LeBlanc, LUTCF, CNP

When people first meet me, (or you for that matter), they immediately start making one of three decisions. This begins with the very first impression. Face-to-face or through technology.

They choose:

1. No, I’m not on the same page with you.
2. Yes, I get you and your message and we ARE on the same page and I want to know more.
3. Maybe, I need more time to get to know you, your information and what you’re all about.

Many people that know me know that I, rarely if ever, have a bad day. Seriously. Now I know what some of you are thinking while you’re reading this. “Marvin, don’t give me that “PollyAnna” crapola, (one of Gitomer’s
favorite words) that all is right with you and your world. We know better. We know you have problems.”

My answer: well of course I have “stuff”. We all have “stuff”. We always WILL have “stuff”. But, how quickly you MOVE ON from one pile of “stuff” to the next is my secret life weapon. That weapon – that unique ability that I
have developed, (beginning in 1978) is how I overcome and overachieve.

What I EXPECT is what I GET. I EXPECT much out of myself and I get much out of myself.
* I’m not blessed with height. (I’m a short, round Cajun.)
* I’m not blessed with good looks. (I had the biggest ears in my 4th Grade Class and the picture is on my Facebook to prove it)
* I was not highly educated at Tulane or Harvard. (But I bleed LSU purple & gold)

What do you EXPECT out of yourself? Are you GETTING what you EXPECT? Are you GIVING what you EXPECT?

I will definitely admit that I do have bad “moments” in my days, but I don’t have bad days.

On Oct. 20th of 2007 my daughter & I were riding my Honda Goldwing. It was a gorgeous, sunny, dry day. We decided to take the scenic River Road out of LaPlace, Louisiana (Hwy.44) – instead of taking the interstate. We were listening to Buddy Guy on my iPod. And then in a flash, we were catapulted directly over the front of my Goldwing. A careless, elderly driver had “T-boned” us.

My daughter lay motionless, face down on the asphalt in the lane of oncoming traffic. Immediately I looked down to see the bones in my right wrist displaced and broken from the impact. We both went over the top of his car. We both were heavily armored with proper bike wear. Besides some lower back pain that my daughter had, she is fine. I incurred 32 stiches in my wrist and 2 screws (my joints tell me when it’s going to rain.) The elderly driver is no longer with us.

But here’s the real point. That was NOT A BAD DAY!!!

WHY? Because we still made it home in time to watch LSU beat Auburn!!! 30-24(LSU had the ball in field goal range at the end of the game, but did not use its remaining timeout, instead calling a pass into the end zone,
which went for the winning TD with 1 second left, keeping our national championship hopes alive. By the way, we won the National Championship in 2007 beating Ohio State 38-24. That was the night that the Buckeyes couldn’t spell O-H-I-O with their big flags. My daughter and I were there. That was NOT A BAD DAY, now was it?)

Now — stop and really hear me.  IT’S WHAT YOU FOCUS ON THAT MATTERS!! IT’S what you CHOOSE to think that matters!

Quit obsessing about what you don’t have. And start obsessing about what you DO HAVE. Start obsessing about what your OPPORTUNITIES are that you can capitalize on. If you’re in a bad work relationship or you’re in a bad personal relationship, make a MOVE!!! This thing called “LIFE” is not a dress rehearsal. Make a MOVE and stop BITCHING!! Hug the people you love and mean it!! Tell people you love them and mean it!!

Well Marvin, you don’t understand my circumstances.

Really? Well then let’s talk about it. No, really. I’m serious. Let’s set an appointment. 15 minutes. And after 15 minutes, you can make one of three decisions about me.

Yes, No or Maybe. We’ll both be better people after the 15 minutes are completed.

Some homework before we talk.

** What specific tools or skills are you lacking that keeps you “stuck” too long?
** Do you honestly believe that things can change for you without you changing?
** Who do you have in your life that is an Accountability Partner that keeps you moving in the right direction?

PS: Did you know that you can leave your comments and opinions and feedback about this blog right here at the site? Please do it. For the benefit of others. We really want to hear what you have to say.

Yep, I said. Your teacher was wrong.

I vividly remember when we had a spelling bee. I got 98 words correct out of 100.

Pretty good right! Well apparently not. Because all the teacher could do is give me 2 big fat RED X’s on the two that I got wrong.

And the pattern continued as we got older. We were always told what we did wrong. What I’m suggesting is that the English teacher should have taken extra time and she should have given us 98 green check marks. (Green — as in GO!)
(Green –as in keep striving. (Green – as in keep moving forward)

Oh, but no!! Our eyes were drawn to focus on those two big, brutal red x’s.

And subliminally we still see them into adolescence, into college, into adulthood.

So whether it’s yourself personally, whether it’s your relationships, whether it’s your team members, the true question that we should be asking is – “what are we doing right?”

Are we capitalizing on our strengths?  Not what we’re getting wrong but what are we doing right?

If you’re talking about your organization, are the team members in the right seats, (assuming that you’ve already determined that these people are on the right bus, as we learned in “Good to Great” by Mr. Collins.

So how about you? Are you spending your time on the “green check marks” in your life and your relationships or are you spending your time on the “red x’s?”

PSST: focus on the “green check marks” and be sure to tell us your experiences here at marvinleblanc.com.

Peace, Love and Gumbo!

Marvin LeBlanc, LUTCF, CNP

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Marvin LeBlanc is a left-handed, right-brained, fun-loving Cajun that is obsessed with Life Performance and Overcoming Adversity. He is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker and founder of Marvelous Performance Systems. Marvin is available for business retreats, keynotes, breakout sessions, workshops, & individual coaching programs. His book “COME HELL OR HIGH WATER” will be available in the Fall of 2011 through New York Publisher www.BloomingTwig.com. To rent Marvin’s brain, contact him at www.MarvinLeBlanc.com and request a Free Personal Coaching Session.

Hello Marvelous People!

We enjoyed this blog post so much, Spare Some Change? written by Beth Budreck for the LIFE Foundation, that we wanted to share it here with all you Marvelous People:

When I mention the words “life insurance,” people tend to scatter quicker than if I were a sketchy character asking for spare change. And while the holidays are over and the bell-ringers have all gone home, it’s never too late to spare a little change, particularly for your loved ones. As an insurance professional, I can spout statistics and evidence on the importance of life insurance, but I won’t. Instead I’ll let the stories speak for themselves. I have worked with these three women and want to share their stories of “spared change.” (I have changed their names to maintain their privacy.)

Erin came to work for me while she was in high school. She had moved to the Chicagoland area from Memphis four years earlier, not because she made the choice, but because “life happened” and the choice was made for her. While driving home from her grandparent’s funeral the day after Christmas, a drunk driver hit the car she was in head-on killing both of her parents. She and her two brothers went to live with their aunt and uncle, who already had three children. Their family had doubled overnight and so did the responsibilities. But because her parent’s had ample life insurance, Erin and her brothers were able to stay together and were “spared the change” of missing out on all the positive things that the future held, such a private college education. Of course, nothing can replace the loss of a parent, but Erin did not have to lose the promising future her parents would have wanted for her.

Tammy came to work for me about a year ago. She hadn’t planned to move back to the Chicagoland area either. Tammy was living in sunny Arizona with her husband of eight years. They had just taken a slice of the American dream by starting their own business. Their business was starting to pick up as they were settling into their lives together. One night, however, Tammy woke up to find that her husband’s preexisting heart condition had taken a fatal toll. Tammy tried to save him while calling 911, but there nothing she could do. He died on April 15; he was up for life insurance eligibility on May 17. Tammy was left with business loans, a mortgage and no life insurance. In the midst of mourning the loss of her husband, she had to make the difficult decision of moving out the home they had built together. “When he had been able to get life insurance, he didn’t think he needed it,” Tammy said. Tammy was not “spared change” in her life. When I asked Tammy what she would say to people about her experience, she stated firmly, “Even if you don’t think you need life insurance, you do.”

Anne, a bright spirit, worked for me while getting her college degree. Always smiling, she was the kind of person that lit up a room. Anne had talked about getting herself a life insurance policy for some time. She told me, “My parents think I don’t need it,” but decided to get the policy anyway. Ten days after we completed the application, Anne died in a car accident. The life policy was validated. A few days after the accident I spoke with Anne’s mother who said, “If it weren’t for this policy, we wouldn’t have enough money to bury my daughter.” Anne was a 22-year-old woman with no kids, no husband and no major assets. Yet, through her choice, she was able to “spare some change” for her own parents.

How will you spare some change for your loved ones in 2011?

Beth Budreck, CLU, has a BS in finance and has been running her Chicago-area State Farm agency for over 21 years. She is married with two children, a boy who is 7 and a girl who is 8.

One day all the employees reached the office and they saw a big sign on the door on which it was written “Yesterday the person who has been hindering your growth passed away. We invite you to join the funeral in the room that has been prepared in the gym.”

In the beginning, they all got sad for the death of one of their colleagues. But after a while they started getting curious to know, who was this man who hindered the growth of his colleagues and the company itself? The excitement in the gym was such that security agents were ordered to control the crowd in the room.

The more people reached the coffin, the more the excitement heated up. Everyone thought, who was this guy who was hindering my progress? Well at least he died. One by one, the thrilled employees got closer to the coffin and when then they looked inside it they suddenly became speechless, they stood nearby the coffin shocked and in silence as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul.

There was a mirror inside the coffin. Everyone who looked inside it could see himself. There was also a sign next to the mirror that said, “There is only one person who is capable to set limits to your growth. It is you.”

Your life does not change when your boss changes, when your friends change, when your parents change, when your partner changes, when you company changes. Your life changes when you change, when you go beyond your limiting beliefs.

Examine yourself. Watch yourself. Don’t be afraid of difficulties, impossibilities and losses. Be a winner. Build yourself, and build your reality. It’s the way you face life that makes the difference.

Peace, Love and Gumbo~

Marvin LeBlanc

I read this at http://theartistfarm.com and wanted to share. Please post a comment and let us know what you think.

In the deepest sense money isn’t real. It’s true. Intrinsically it has no real value. It’s just a fancy piece of paper. If you were to take our money to an alien world what could you use it for? Money is simply a mutually agreed upon token we use to exchange for things that provide REAL VALUE to us like food, community, comfort and shelter. It is the thing we buy with money or the thing people buy from us that has actual value.

Why then do we stress over money? You stress about money because you have mistakenly identified money, the actual money, as the thing of value.  You feel stress because you are “fighting” to get something that doesn’t exist – the closer you get the more elusive it becomes. There is another way.

Look at the thing of value as what’s underneath the money. If you want to generate more income, then think of how you can generate more value, not more money. Also recognize that both value and wealth come in more forms than just money. You can be financially wealthy but be bankrupt in true friendships, peer respect or health.

This observation is universal; applicable to anyone, anywhere in any business or organization. It applies to the artist business, the management company and the United States Government.

In equation form it looks like this:

Wealth = Value Provided by Y * Number of Entities that Directly Value Y

(Where Y is the product, employee or subject generating wealth.)

Think about this on a higher plane. We are all connected in a giant ecosystem and the flow of money is merely a manifestation of the exchange of our energy. Next time you are stressed out about money be self-reflective. Rather than stressing about how you can get more money for money’s sake, focus instead on how you can provide more value to more people. All sorts of wealth will flow from this mindset.

Peace, Love and Gumbo -

Marvin LeBlanc