A few weeks ago, I was in my favorite breakfast eatery, Snooze, with my friend Jo celebrating her birthday. Snooze is a totally cool place with a kind of futuristic “Jetsons- yet- retro,” “hip- yet- inviting” feel.  And you’ve really not lived until you’ve had one of their pineapple upside down pancakes with vanilla crème anglaise and cinnamon butter.

Impressive Breakfast Delivery

Our food was brought to the table by a really happy guy who delivered our breakfast with enthusiasm and joy. No “food slung mindlessly on the table” here. You could almost hear the “Ta-Da”  music in the background. This guy was excited about this food. He seemed to be thrilled to be bringing it to us. It was clear he cared about our experience. His enthusiasm was contagious.

Jo and I watched him over the next hour, bringing delicious  food and his own special brand of joy to each table in the restaurant.  He was the topic of our breakfast conversation, “He acts as if he cooked each dish himself,” “He’s so proud of this food.” “He looks like he’s having so much fun.”

Fast forward three weeks. This morning, three friends took me to Snooze for breakfast to celebrate my birthday week.  Once again, this same young man with the big grin brought us our food. I began to tell my friends about his awesomeness, when they said, “Tell him!”

So we called him over and I told him how much I appreciated him and why.  He said “I love what I do!” and thanked us for making his “day, week, month!”  (He’s exuberant like that.)

We also shared this with Nick the Manager, who told us that Bryce loves what he does, is studying hospitality management in school, and is an amazing member of their team.

And here’s why Bryce Norblom is so amazing:

1. He’s working in his sweet spot. Bryce clearly loves what he does. He has great pride in the food he serves, and creates an excellent customer experience. How could you feel anything but lucky to be eating what this guy is clearly so excited about?  He gives off the vibe that there’s nowhere he’d rather be than right there, and nothing he’d rather be doing than bringing you your breakfast.

2. He makes it about the customer. Today, having heard it was my birthday, he went back and had the kitchen make me a birthday pancake, and brought it out with a lit candle and a flourish.  You could tell he was just delighted to surprise me. And for me, it wasn’t just the birthday pancake—it was his glee at bringing it to me.

3. He’s incredibly cheerful at 7 o’clock in the morning. Nuff said.

So look at your business:

Are working in your sweet spot? Are you passionate about what you do?  Are you doing what you do best and leveraging your strengths?  Are you excited about what you are offering?

Are you making it about the customer? Do you know your customer intimately?  Do you know their pain, their aspirations, their lives?  Are you focused on helping them?  Are you focused on giving them the best products and services you can? Are you constantly looking for new ways of serving them and making their lives better?

Are you cheerful at 7 am? Are you taking care of yourself and getting enough rest? Are you confident that what you do that day will make a difference?  Do you get out of bed excited about what you will create each day?

Incorporating these three “Reasons Why Bryce Norblom is Amazing” into your business can make you as amazing as he is!

I’d love to hear about the “Bryce Norbloms” you’ve encountered, and what made that customer experience so amazing.

Bookmark It

As I walked to my car after attending an “unconference” last week, this sticker on another car caught my eye.  I had to take a picture of it.  I’ve been thinking about it all week.

How might things transform if we all lived by this motto? What would the world be like if we all wagged more and barked less?

Leaders and Small Business Owners

Leaders and small business owners would focus on the strengths of their people.  They would share an exciting vision of the future, and help each person see how their contribution helps move the organization toward that future. They would set clear expectations, encourage their people, celebrate their successes, and help them learn from their “creative missteps.”

They would focus on and talk about what’s going right. They’d set achievable milestones so that people would feel a continued sense of progress and achievement. They’d get excited about small wins, and help them become bigger ones.  They’d become each of their employees’ biggest champion.

They’d create an organizational culture that is focused on creating an amazing experience for their customers. They would make their customers feel valued and appreciated, and make each transaction uncommonly good. Their customers would be so happy, that they’d wag themselves, telling others in their circle about their remarkable experience with the organization. Word would spread. Business would increase.  More wagging all around.

In Our Personal Lives

We’d focus on what’s going right. We’d live with a great sense of gratitude, and appreciate all of the awe-inspiring things we encounter each day—the smile of a toddler, a beautiful flower, the touch of a loved one, the taste of a juicy peach, the miracle of everyday life.  We would wag all day long if we simply tuned into just how good things in our lives really are.

We wouldn’t complain. We’d change what we had influence over, and let go of the rest.  We would not spend time complaining about things we have no power to change.  Barking about things we can’t change is a waste of time and energy.

We wouldn’t blame. We would focus on wagging our way to the solution to any problem we face, rather than looking at whose “fault” the problem is.

We’d be a joy to be around. People would be attracted to our positive energy, and want to hang with us. They’d wag more as well.  We’d all be wagging together, joyfully living our lives.

So that’s been my focus this last week—wagging more and barking less.

How about you?  What will you do to incorporate this into your life?  Are your ready to wag more and bark less?

Bookmark It

I got my first smart phone last month. It has a built in GPS/navigation system with a tiny woman who lives in my phone and gives me turn by turn directions. I call her Myrtle. We’ve bonded.

I’ve noticed that I don’t quite trust Myrtle yet. When I’m leaving my office to go somewhere new, I take a quick peek at Google Maps on my desktop computer and get an idea in my head of where I’m going and what main roads will take me there. Then I trust Myrtle to take care of the details of the small streets once I get in the vicinity of my destination.

Can you say “control freak?”

Last weekend, my best friend and I were headed to an estate sale. True to form, I’d looked at the map on my desktop computer before leaving. I knew where I was headed.

Except that Myrtle had other ideas. As we pulled out of my friend’s neighborhood, and onto the main road, Myrtle told me to “make a right turn on E. Vine Drive.” Now, in my mind, we should be staying on North College Avenue for a few more miles before turning off. But Myrtle said we should turn.

I was going to ignore Myrtle and go my way (Myrtle has a remarkable ability to recalibrate and create a new route when I ignore her gentle urgings), but my friend said, “Let’s just go the way Myrtle is telling us.”

So I turned on Vine. Then Myrtle told me to stay on Vine for a few more miles before turning again. I just knew this could not be right. I knew I should turn left on LeMay. My friend urged me to stay the course, and listen to Myrtle. I said, “I don’t have a half hour to waste if she takes us way out of the way.”

My wise friend suggested it would probably only take us, at best, five minutes out of the way, and that I might learn something. So I decided to let go and give control to Myrtle.

The route in my head would have taken us through this.

Myrtle’s route took us through the scenery at the top of this post. And I don’t think it took us any longer.

My friend was right. I learned something.

Letting go and inviting in outside guidance can bring better results than having a predetermined, rigid plan that you alone formulate.

Start with what you know. Start with your best ideas. Then open yourself up to other possibilities. The world of business today is too complex to ignore the wealth of information that is available to us.

Be open to outside guidance. Input can come from many places. Create your own “board of directors.” These are people you like and respect, who have expertise that is different than your own, and who are open to providing you with information and ideas. They are people you can call or meet with as needed. You can ask questions, and kick around ideas, get a “sanity check.”

Let go of control. And the need to be right. Both important. Both tough. Both will close you off from a world of possibilities.

So here’s a question for you. Where does your need to control things keep you stuck, and limit your business growth and success?

Bookmark It