Who Are You After The Game?

March 26, 2012 By Michelle

When the game is over, the locker room is empty and the fanfare has come to a halt, there’s a moment of deafening silence…the silence of one’s own heart facing life head-on. From the stadium walks not an athlete, but a man; a man who stands in his street clothes – just him, his personality, his character. When it’s all said and done, he has nothing else. Whatever he owns, whatever limelight is shining on him now, will eventually dim and all he will have left is himself.

The trappings of life; the gold, the glitz, the glitter, and the glamour can fade at a moment’s notice. Just ask one of the 78% of NFL players who find themselves traveling to the intersection of broke and busted within five years of retiring. Only those who are ingrained with a sense of personal accountability will drive to post-career satisfaction and personal victory.

But what about you, the entrepreneur? Without your business, without your enterprises, who are you? What identifies the core of your character?
Maybe it’s time to take an assessment of who you are today, at this moment. Every key person and each key circumstance in your life has helped shaped you into the person you’ve become. You may have chosen to allow bitterness and anger, or self-pity to take root due to life circumstances. Or, you may have chosen to allow life to empower you and strengthen your inner resolve.

Have you been stuck at the intersection of broke, busted, and disgusted? Have you cruised on the highway of gold, glitz, glitter, and the glamour of a successful career? Some of us have driven in both worlds.

I think most of us have in mind what emotional, spiritual, physical, financial, relational, and vocational destinations we see ourselves arriving at; where we’d like to be at a certain stage in our lives. Sometimes I think we focus entirely too much on the destination and forget to enjoy the everyday moments that teach us the lessons that will help us value and cherish those destinations. So, take some time to evaluate where you are right now and who you have become.

“Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves, to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterday by our today, to do our work with more force than ever before.”
Stewart B. Johnson

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Playing the Field

February 19, 2012 By Michelle

A star pro athlete commands the field. When he steps onto the field, he acts like he owns it. A swagger of confidence hovers around him and he ignores all outside stimuli that seeks to downgrade him.

When he plays the field, his opponents sense his presence and his teammates look to him for leadership and guidance. He has flair, authority, strength, balance and composure – at the same time.

As entrepreneurs and business people, we are automatically leaders of our own empire. We play the field of our businesses, even if we’re the only one on our team. Let’s study how the attributes of star athletes can put us on the fast track to personal and business success:

1. Flair – Having flair means possessing natural talent, showing instinctive discernment, and distinctive elegance or style. How does your personality and personal talent exhibit flair for your business? What sets you apart from your competitors? Think about it…write it down.

2. Authority – When you have authority, you command the power to determine, adjudicate, or settle issues. You delegate. You are the one others look to for leadership and accurate information. There is no room for second-guessing yourself – you MUST lead, guide, and make decisions. Who is looking to you for authority? Your clients? Your vendors? Your kids? Your friends? Your social media network? Continue to prepare and develop your authority muscle.

3. Strength – An athlete needs physical AND mental strength to excel; physical strength to command the field, mental strength to work through obstacles and opponents. As a business person, you need physical strength to keep your stamina strong so you can be productive. You also need mental strength to remained focused and overcome setbacks. How are you keeping yourself physically strong on a daily basis? In what ways are you keeping your mind and spirit healthy?

4. Balance – To keep balance in sports or in life in general, it really comes down to making daily, simple decisions.
-Get enough sleep
-Smile at yourself in the mirror when you wake up
-Build in fun to your daily life
-Learn to say NO
-Learn to say yes to the right things
-Nurture key relationships
-Keep a journal of your daily lessons
In what ways do you maintain life balance? Do you make a to-do list for the next day? Do you schedule in fun? Have you learned to say yes and no to the right things?

5. Composure – In sports, an essential key to success is the ability to maintain composure under pressure. An athlete executes his objectives in the face of intense pressure. A business person often operates under pressure, whether it’s financial, difficult clients, or balancing work and family. A few things to remember in the face of pressure: 1) give yourself a moment to collect yourself, 2) assess the specific situation objectively and don’t allow your personal reaction to cloud your judgment, 3) gather information to gain a deeper understanding of the issue, 4) seek the deeper root cause of the issue, 5) take focused action and lead by example. Do you keep your composure under pressure? Do you see the storms of life as obstacles or opportunities?

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” As you play the field as an athlete or an entrepreneur, remember these simple principles and you’ll always be headed toward victory.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: , , , ,

Half-Time

January 30, 2010 By Michelle

Whether a team is winning or losing…it’s inevitable…half-time WILL come. It’s a time when sports announcers  banter with each other and aggressively give their take on what’s happened in the first half. It’s a time when advertisers unashamedly flaunt their wares with multi-million dollar ideas. It’s also a time that coaches have to lay groundwork for the second half of the game.

Coaches are well aware that they have only 15 minutes at half-time to:

  • Analyze the competition and make necessary adjustments
  • Refresh, rest, and rehydrate the team
  • Motivate and focus on team strength’s
  • Keep their game face on while players offer feedback

Half-time often comes to businesses too. You’ve gone through the opening kick of start-up, you’ve toiled through the downs of marketing attempts and client interaction, and have more than likely reached the goal line of an increased client base and referrals.

Now, half-time comes and you find yourself needing to do all the above bullet points. I’ll break them down so you can go into your second half, revived and ready to give your all.

  • Analyze the competition and make necessary adjustments. Have you looked at your competitors’ websites lately?

Their call to action? Special offers?

Are there any adjustments you can make to keep yourself ahead of your competition?

Perhaps a website copy analysis? A press release to announce your latest product/service offering? A revised auto-responder to draw in a greater number of respondents and increase sales?

  • Refresh, rest, and rehydrate. How many hours a day/week do you work? I’ve consistently worked more hours than I ever have since I’ve been an entrepreneur. I attend a 6:00 a.m. resistance/strength training class to energize me for the first part of the day. I take an afternoon break during my body clock’s dip time, then it’s back to work until around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m.

The more I move up the field as a self-bosser, the more I realize I need to aggressively take time to relax and refresh myself. I have to make a conscious decision to get up at least once an hour and stretch, I need to re-fuel with food every 3-4 hours, and drink plenty of water.

I’m talking to myself when I tell you to take a break and read for 30 minutes. Go for a short walk. Eat a little chocolate (I don’t have any problem with that one). I’ll often take Friday afternoon off to pick up my 6-year old granddaughter for a sleepover. Of course, the piggyback rides and chasing games serve to exhaust me to new heights.

  • Motivate and focus on your strength’s. You’ll find plenty of ways to motivate yourself, you just have to look around. A simple Google search will produce millions of results of motivational content to uplift and inspire you. Also, make a list of your strengths.

It took those strengths to start your business and it takes your strength and talent to manage it. After all, what do football players think about…how inadequate they are? That they have no talent? Huh, I don’t THINK so or they’d have a one-way ticket out of the NFL.

  • Keep your game face on while others offer feedback. If you want to improve your business, you’re going to have to ask for feedback from your clients, your peers, and your mentors. How do you react to feedback when it’s less than what you expected? What if the feedback comes from a trusted source and is still not what you wanted to hear?

Do you keep your game face on or fall apart?

Do you get mad and hurl negative comments back?

Do you wince and glare with nonacceptance of critical comments, even when they’re meant to improve your game?

You can do whatever you want to with your game face in private but keeping your game face on in public is essential to show that you’re a professional – teachable and humble.

Half-time can be a time of commiserating, re-hashing mistakes, mishaps, or a symphony of woe-is-me’s, or it can serve as time well spent. How will you spend your next half-time?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Uniform

September 12, 2009 By Michelle

How do you dress for work?

If you’re a college or pro football player, you wear protection from head to toe. For safety. To avoid injury to important parts. To cushion the falls.

As entrepreneurs, we don’t think much about that in our daily business lives but maybe we should. Let’s take a look at the various elements of a football players’ uniform to see if we can’t relate it to our own internal and external attire.

Helmet & Facemask

The helmet is obviously meant to protect the head against concussions. The facemask acts as a rolling bar for the player’s face to protect against pokes and hits and damage from falling on his face.

My guess is that you don’t wear a helmet during your workday. You’d look pretty ridiculous if you did and the nice people in the white coats would probably take you away.

But, what about starting your day with meditation, prayer, positive thoughts, a thankful spirit, and reading the Bible or other devotional book?

Doing those things on a daily basis protects your mind from potential injury from circumstances or various outside influences that come your way on a daily basis. It might even cushion you from mental and emotional falls.

Shoulder Pads, Hip Pads, Knee Pads, Flak Jackets

Again, all meant to protect different body parts. Football is a game about the power of muscle, not the ability of the body to absorb everything.

Do you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders? Is that what your shoulders were meant for?

Do the pressures of your business keep you up at night? What purpose does that serve?

Are you chained to your desk for long periods? Are your muscles so tight that you groan when you get up to take a break? Your body was not designed to be in a frozen position for long periods of time.

Do you take regular breaks during your work day to revive and restore your mind and body? Protect yourself from wear and tear…nobody else will do that for you.

Have you taken the time to strengthen the power of your own muscles with regular exercise, strength or weight training and cardio? If not, start today.

It’s all about the Shoes

Players wear different types of shoes for different playing surfaces. Depending on the playing surface and condition of the surface, longer or shorter cleats are worn. The bottom line is that cleats give players better traction in varying field conditions.

As an entrepreneur, have you adjusted your approach to clients, depending on the circumstance?

Some clients are firm; I call these ½” cleat clients – you need to be business-like, no-nonsense, and to the point.

Other clients are just average; 5/8” cleat clients – you can give a little leeway with your terms and be a wee more relaxed with communication.

Still others are mushy (touchy, feely, emotionally-charged); ¾” cleat clients – you’ll need to balance that out with some bottom-line statements, a firm stance, and maybe a little humor.

Then there are the 1” cleat clients – they are messy and muddy (temperamental and demanding) and cause miserable playing conditions. You’ll have to remain strong in your stance, not slip in their mud with any verbal giveaways, and not be afraid to take them out of your game.

Outer Wear – Jersey, Pants, and Socks

These are the outer clothes that players wear on the field. Many specific rules are linked to a players’ uniform but all for a reason. They don’t call it a uniform for nothin’. The uniform is governed closely by the NFL. If violations occur, the player is fined.

All those rules make me glad I can wear any old thing while I’m working at my desk at home. However, when I’m meeting with clients, some rules apply.

When you have a client meeting, do you show up, dressed for success, with a professional demeanor? Hair groomed? Nice aroma? Clean, pressed clothes? Minty breath? Notepad and pen ready to work?

All these seem like a no-brainer but I’ve heard horror stories about client meetings with vendors showing up, looking like they just rustled themselves out of bed. I’ve also heard about entrepreneurial folk answering their phones with the first phrase being, “Hey, I’m stepping out of the shower, can I call you back in a sec?” Oh my, these things ought not to be people.

If you’re meeting with a client in a casual setting…sure, ditch the suit and tie and go business casual. Depending on the client, dress the part…wear your “uniform” to the game. Don’t penalize your credibility for your appearance. Show your client you’re on his team all the way.

I’ll ask you again…How do you dress for work? Make sure your internal attire…your mental attitude, your emotional well-being…is in check. Also make sure your outer attire…your appearance for clients…is fit for the occasion.

Hurray! Football season is here! See ya’ll on the field.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

The Heart of the Matter

April 2, 2009 By Michelle


What makes a football player great? What makes an entrepreneur stand above all others? What is the key ingredient that makes each excel?

HEART! A player can have all the talent in the world but without heart, they won’t ultimately succeed. Players with heart impose their will on the opponent. A defensive back with heart will always cause a wide receiver to watch his back. A player with heart will back up the talk which equals credibility.

Without heart, talent becomes a lifeless, sterile environment. Going through the motions without the passion.

As entrepreneurs, we impose our will on our prospective customer with our dynamic closing skills, made with heart…really caring about our customer’s needs and wants.

Of course we don’t want people to have to watch their back around us, that’s not what I’m talking about here. We want to have so much heart that we make a splash wherever we are; people are aware of us. When we promise end results to our customers, backing that up with action also equals credibility for us as individuals and for our businesses.

When I think of the greatest pro players, past and present, I think of Brett Favre, Emmitt Smith, Kurt Warner and Payton Manning just to name a few. All of them played with heart and their stats prove it.

How will you set yourself apart in the business community? Are you known by your heart? Do your customers really know you care about them and their businesses? Reach out today and get to know your customers then check your stats.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,