2008 October

HEY OLD MAN, YOU ROCK!

 

When you look up the word ‘elderly’ you will find definitions that read something like: older in age, an elder of a society. Most people seem to consider 65 the marker of elderliness. This assumption is based on pension and retirement benefits mostly. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the word. Many of you may agree. The word ‘elderly,’ to me, does not describe the amazing accomplishments I see in the older generations.

I bring this up because an older gentleman recently reached out to me to see if Prophit Marketing would be a good fit in helping his nonprofit organization. I was amazed at the passion this gentleman displayed as he talked about the cause and mission of the organization. As he handed me literature, his hand was shaky but his spirit and voice were strong. I started thinking, will I be this passionate when I’m his age?

Did you know that Colonel Sanders was in his mid 60’s when he became a multi-millionaire with his chicken recipe and restaurant chain? People like him are called seniorpreneurs and today I see most going into consulting and public speaking. Fantastic! Sharing their amazing wisdom and world experience with those who can learn and grow from their knowledge.

Often, the world ‘elderly’ conjures up a picture of a little old man and woman rocking in their rocking chairs and watching the world go by. For some reason, I don’t think the Baby Boomer generation is going to participate in the whole ‘elderly’ thing. I think we should either change the name or redefine it. What do you think?

Joe Kiedinger

ACTION PLAN: Put November 12^th on your calendar for a FREE event. Learn how you can be a Brander-In-Chief at this free Road Show! Hope to see you there!

WHAT IS WISDOM ANYWAY?

Wisdom is such a misunderstood word. When most people think of the words “wisdom” or “wise”, they immediately associate them with “smart” or “intelligent”. Wisdom does not rely on intelligence. The true nature of wisdom lies in two understandings:

 

1)      Understand what you’re truly good at and be true to it.

2)      Understand what you don’t understand.

 

What does this new revelation mean to me? Well, I was an entertainer most of my life; ever since I was a kid. I even performed on a cruise ship for nine months before deciding to pursue my career in marketing–a career that is more rewarding than I ever could have imagined. I learned, however, that the performer is still inside me and needs to get out once in awhile. That’s when I began to understand the wisdom of being true to my God-given talents.

 

I decided to create a Road Show that incorporates the Prophit Marketing System into an entertaining presentation. This way, audiences are able to learn while being entertained. I hope you can make the upcoming book premiere where I will be putting on my Road Show for all of you. This free public performance is the result of my revelation to use wisdom to find one’s purpose.

 

When we look at the second lesson: Understand what you don’t understand, this is equally, if not more powerful than the former lesson. Have you ever met a person who “knows everything” and is simply unable to see things from another person’s point of view? Boy, it’s frustrating. My twelve year-old son is challenging me lately. Must be that age. He states things with conviction that he has no clue about. I’m sure I did it too at his age.

 

A colleague of mine expressed this second lesson beautifully and I borrow it often to express this point. He says, “Whenever I’m with a client I have this little invisible card in my pocket that reads: “I may be wrong here.” I go into every client relationship with humility, wisdom, and the understanding that this person knows their business better than I do and I need to really listen so we can get this strategy right.

 

Wisdom is knowing your strengths, living by them, and understanding things you don’t understand. It’s also about moving forward with the understanding that this life is a journey and the day you stop getting better is the day you… well, you get the picture!

–Joe Kiedinger–

 

ACTION PLAN: Mark November 12^th on your calendar! See you at the book premiere!

 

 

ARE YOU A DIFFERENCE MAKER?

 

Two years ago, and again this past spring, I wrote about a looming recession the likes of the early 80’s. Believe me it wasn’t my great macro-economic mind that forecasted it. I attended a conference where a firm with a 60-year history of successful economic predictions presented their forecast. I paid attention. Back then, I shared with you the areas that these experts indicated would remain recession-proof: education, food-related industries like grocery, health care, and senior living to name a few.

 

I told the Prophiteers back then, “There is a really good chance in the next 18 months we will hit a recession. And Prophit Marketing will NOT be participating in it.” Our strategy focused on finding categories within these recession-proof areas that would help propel us through difficult financial times. One advantage we already had was a strong grocery flagship client, Festival Foods. We began focusing on non-competing grocery and food products and it paid off. We also have partnered with other categories that have found a protective niche within this poor economic climate.

 

I am honored to be able to work with these great leaders of industry who have taught me as much, if not more than, I have taught them. It’s made us mutually better and viable. I would like to hear your story of how you are winning in a down market. What did you do differently? How is your industry already resilient to economic downturns?

 

I’ve realized that we are all susceptible to financial hardship. I have also realized that the folks who are the most innovative and creative survive. By creative, I don’t mean they created a TV or radio script or some silly campaign. I mean the ones who stand out in their industry. The ones customers remember and say, “Cool, that’s never happened to me like that before.”

 

Pay attention to your customers and respond to their “throw away” comments when they sigh about something not being right. Ask more questions and understand what they are looking for. Example, an employee who delivered room service at a Four Seasons Hotel was sick of customers complaining about their toast being cold when it arrived in their room. This employee decided to bring their own toaster to work. Whenever a customer ordered toast in the morning this associate would bring bread up to the room, plug in the toaster and tell the customer, “Your toast will be ready in about 45 seconds.” The top management heard of this and bought toasters for every room in their hotels.

 

Anyone can be a difference maker. So what are you doing? I want to know. Perhaps our other readers do too!

 

–Joe Kiedinger–

 

ACTION PLAN: Decide to be a difference maker for the business you work for. Your job satisfaction will go through the roof and so will your customer loyalty.

 

ARE YOU IN THE PRESENT?

I’m sure many of you have read or at least heard of the bestseller Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, M.D.  I was reading another book by this author the other day called The Present. The book had a few powerful messages I’d like to share with you today.

 

First, be in the present! What is important to you right now? Focus on it and respond to it. If you’re anything like most people, you’re not living in the moment. You’re working for something far down the road and hoping for the best. There’s so much power in appreciating what is here and now.

 

Second, learn from the past! You can make the present better by looking at what has happened in the past, learning something valuable from it, and doing things differently right now.

 

Last, plan for the future! If you want to make your future better picture yourself in the reality you want. Imagine that wonderful life you’d like to have, then take significant steps to get there. What can you do right now to make your goals happen? Whether you’re dreaming of a cabin on a lake somewhere, a promotion, or a whole new career. What can you do right now to put your goal into motion? Plan it out and take action!

 

I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for more happiness and success. It’s a short, inspiring read I’m sure you’ll enjoy!

 

–Joe Kiedinger–

 

ACTION PLAN: Pick up a copy of The Present. You won’t regret it!

DO GLITCHES SCARE YOU?

Foreword:  PLEASE MOVE THE DATE… The Book Premiere of my new book, The Brander-In-Chief, is being moved from October 6th to November 12th starting at 3 p.m. at the historic Meyer Theater in downtown Green Bay!

There are a lot of business people out there who simply cannot handle little ‘glitches’ that taint their perfect plan. I am all about execution. Matter of fact, my philosophy is to start it, then figure it out. Opportunities don’t come every day so you need seize them when they present themselves. I’d like to share with you my story of recently starting 9th Street Publishing and the launch of its first product.

I was in a pretty cool situation, you might say. I had a book written and illustrated, I had people in powerful places tell me it’s a great book and I was offered a publishing deal with a publisher out of California. So, why not put it to bed and go with it? Sign the deal and move on. Now, in the words of Paul Harvey, let me tell you the rest of the story.

Prior to being offered the publishing deal, I had two other authors come to me for guidance on publishing their own materials. The first was a life coach who authored her own book and who was looking for help getting it out there. The second, a marriage translator (counselor) who had an amazing system of putting broken marriages back together. What could be nobler than getting this system into the mainstream?

I began to realize that the publisher’s main job was taking written copy and transforming it into a finished book. It’s really the authors that are in charge of marketing their own book. Because we are a marketing firm, why couldn’t we do both? So we decided we CAN do both and we started 9th Street Publishing. This name refers to the street where we first opened our business.

Everything was going great. We found a printer who could act as the fulfillment house and we set a date for book premiere here in Green Bay. This is where the GLITCH came in. Because we have never published a book, the finalizing of the finished artwork took longer than we had realized. It takes four weeks to print the first order and it’s just going out today.

Oh, well, these things happen. Hopefully, this glitch will be seen as stroke of marketing genius rather than a slip-up. The extra attention of switching the premiere date has become the very reason so many people know about it. Well, it’s simply an entrepreneur figuring out how these things come together. That’s all.

Joe Kiedinger

ACTION PLAN: Learn to create a better balance between what you want to have happen and how things really happen. Get started by taking advantage of a 30% pre-release book discount by going to The Brander-In-Chief website.