A Night Devoted to Influence
I spent a wonderful evening hearing people from different walks of life provide stories about how to be more successful in your business. The Monroe, CT Chamber of Commerce and Score of Fairfield County sponsored the event that consisted of 5 speakers talking about their specific topics, with a core focus of “Selling from Influence.” A special shout out to Beth Stoller of At The Podium for another great event that she organized. She has been such a rock for me over the past year in helping me meet and connect with such great people and who is getting me to come out of my shell to develop a couple of topics of my own.
The speakers did a good job condensing their programs to 10 minutes each (when they are usually doing their topics with 30-60 minutes each), but it was a good crash course through their mindsets followed by a robust Question and Answer.
I particularly liked Christopher Salem’s 5 I’s that help one focus efforts around the “why” we do what we do rather than the “what” we do. When we connect with our purpose what we offer is more genuine, and we also understand where we can compromise and where we can’t - if you offer something in conflict with your “why” then you will bring stress into your business that you don’t need. So when thinking about what you offer, think about:
Insight
Initiative
Impact
Influence
Integrity
Chris personally put me on the spot and the introvert cringed in me, but I appreciated his message - he called out things he knows about me as a person and how those values like faith, family and relationships are things he identifies with and as such is a strong motivator for him to do business with me - he connects with my “why” and therefore has an urge to work with me and do business with me.
It’s good to step back and think about what we value in our business relationships and why. Then we can look at that insight and figure out new ways to leverage our spheres of influence differently AND find new ways to connect with more people we want to do business with.
They will be doing a full on summit later this year. When I have more details I will share that broadly. Ultimately though, it will be a much more comprehensive format with a full day of access to these professionals who have much to teach. If you are a small business or entrepreneur, it’s worth participating AND connecting with others “like you” to open up new opportunities.
What to Think About When Budgeting for A Wedding
One of my favorite sites is the Penny Hoarder (www.thepennyhoarder.com). They have so many great tips and tools to help people figure out how to be smarter about the money they have and how to think of new ways to make more money. This article is a great one on budgeting for your wedding.
Personally, $34,000 seems pretty good as an average. That seems about right and would likely be higher or lower somewhat depending on what Geography you are living in, but it does seem in line. Personally we may want to revisit some of our Keeping Up with The Jone’s mentality on party planning etc. The focus of the day SHOULD be about the commitment that the two are making AND how we as friends and family can bear witness to this commitment. Marriage is not a laughing matter and is a monumental leap of trust between two people. That’s the thing we need to remember and celebrate. The party side of things, well, that’s not as important overall, but often corrupts our celebration as we start to focus on what others think rather than the promises we are making.
Now, lecture over, a good wedding is a LOT of fun for all. But it can get expensive VERY quickly, so the Penny Hoarder does a good job of laying out things to think about from prioritizing what really matters to the elements that are traditionally more costly versus less costly (where can you cut some corners and where are you going to get hit no matter what). And as always, their tone and structure are easy to read. Enjoy!
Training Isn’t Just for People
On a little of a lighter side, here’s an article into training K-9 teams. It’s good to see that dogs need to get their continuing education credits too :). Haha - but more seriously it’s good to know that there are people out there helping our law enforcement community keep all the members of their staff up to speed and certified to make sure we as a community stay safer.
