Freedom From Fear Forever will be shipping in two weeks! I guess fine wine just takes a little longer. In honor of this auspicious occasion we are offering a special package. For those that pre-order (before September 23rd) both books (Freedom From Fear and Freedom From Fear Forever) we will ship it gratis and throw in our latest totally cool journaling pen.

Click here for all the details.
 

 Road Improvements  

I Can Turn you Off

It was in San Diego, California in the April of 2000. The organization was called MHEDA. It was an annual gathering of Leaders for the Material Handling Industry. A four star hotel and 200 CEO’s in a room to hear me talk about "Customer Service Excellence." It was a wonderful opportunity not just for additional speaking engagements but to test this "Back of the Room" sales I had been reading about.

You see, I finally had a product to sell. It was on Effective Communication.
My first book (which few people know about, except the nine people that read it, no wait, ten, my mom!) was for sale on audio cassette and I secretly hoped some of these corporate execs would buy.

As a rule, CEO's of large companies, tend to be very forthright, even brutally honest. I was grateful for that then and now. Without feedback, honest feedback, none of us can grow. Winning doesn't teach, only losing does. The Coroner only does an autopsy when someone dies.

Well I am happy to report I received all 9's and 10's on my evaluations...until we got to the technology question.

You see, I was the only presenter to still be using the old overhead projector with the plastic coated slides you manually overlay onto the projector. Hey, my slides were color and I had taken great care to customize them to their industry. The problem was this was a sophisticated group use to high technology and power point slides from their speakers.

Despite my anachronistic approach to technology, things went well. Many people came up to me afterward and shook my hand, gave me their cards.

Further proof of a successful engagement was the fact that several people came up afterward and actually purchased some cassettes. Between the back of the room sales and positive reviews I was all aglow.

Then I turned to the last page of the evaluations...the technology question.
"On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate his seminar?"
 Hey Fred Flintstone, Yabba-dabba-do!
 Get out of the Stone Age pal!
 Hey Barney Rubble, I have just two words for you, Power Point!

Ouch! And so it went. Eleanor Roosevelt once said "No one can put you down without your permission." Well I gave them mine! Man did I feel bad...for about 15 minutes.

Then I turned on my laptop computer. I HAD Power Point! I sat down for the next 4 hours and taught myself that program. I look back at the early versions and shudder now, but hey, it was a start. Now I use full motion video, pictures, charts, etc. Fred Flintstone is dead, long live George Jetson baby!

I must be willing to hear the bad news. Without honest feedback and a willingness to change, I will never grow. There is a happy ending to this tale. One CEO that had purchased my tapes called me for a speaking engagement. (He eventually hired me to speak to his 75 managers in Utah.) I called him back on his car phone. He said, "Hold on, let me turn this off. I was listening to your audio tapes." A little flattered, I asked, "What did you like most about them?" He paused for moment then said, "You know what I like the most?" Holding my breath in anticipation I replied, "No, what?" "I can turn you off any time I like!"

You don't need to sick to get better.

Here are some questions to test your willingness to change and grow:

• What is holding you back from taking your work to the next level?
• What barriers are in the way?
• What would happen if you were to proactively solicit objective feedback from smart and honest business people around you?
• Why wait for an autopsy to find out why you died!
• Who can you ask?

Good luck and remember, Yabba-dabba-do!
 

 One for the road

This months must read a departure from the norm. It's still a book but it's not one you can buy at the book store.  It's an e-book! "Five Cool Ideas for Succeeding at Work" by Michael Angelo Caruso.

Michaels e-book is in PDF format so you will need Adobe Acrobat to view it. Here's the link to the book: 5 Cool Ideas and check out the extras you get with it.
 

  Watch "The Road" Buddy!

Have you been to Matteson Avenue lately? We have been busy. We have a new Site Map page with direct links to everything.

We have a link to help the Katrina Disaster. Please give if you can.

 

 The Boulevard

This months featured web site is Michael's Edison House. What can we say? We really like it. Check out the navigation "house" in the upper right corner after you click on one of the doors. Lots of content with no charge. Watch a few of his intro videos. He's good!

 

 The Wire's Conduit

This months Wire tip is all about email back up. First I have to assume that your email is well organized and that you keep your "inbox" cleaned up (It's my "To Do" list so I keep less than 20 emails in it). If you use Outlook Express and you keep everything in your Inbox (hundreds) you stand a good chance of crashing it and loosing your Inbox. Setup folders by person, company or task. Clean up your "Deleted" emails by either empting it or keeping only the last month of deletions. Do the same to your "Sent" folder. Outlook has a mailbox cleanup tool which will pair down the size of your email. In Outlook Express you will need to go to "File", "Folder", "Compact All Folders". Now your email is pruned and compacted and ready to backup.
In Outlook you will need to go to "File", "Import and Export" and export your entire Contacts, email and the lot. Browse for a location and sit back. Mine came in at 485 MB so I put it on a single CD. Outlook Express users may find is easier to do a search for the two folders "Outlook Express" and "Address Book" and just backup those two folders.

Next month we talk about organizing those scads of digital pictures!

I rate this a 6 on the value scale (1-10 - 10 being best)
I rate this a 7 on the complexity scale ( 1-10 - 10 being hardest)

Questions? email Kevin at kevin@mattesonavenue.com

 

 End Construction  

Again, Thank You for your valuable time. We have more to come.

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