A duck and a dream

I had the pleasure of watching arguably the world’s best magician David Copperfield live in Melbourne recently. The magic itself was awesome...

17 reasons you should always carry a book with you

1. As someone who used to spend a lot of time waiting for real estate clients to show up – I know that clients / appointments / people in general are often late...

Reality Television your way to Success

I think I’m one of the only “motivational speakers” (not that I call myself that) who will openly admit that I watch television. I watch bad television too… even… dare I say it… reality television.

Where is the love?!

One of my businesses, Elephant Property, works in the notoriously under appreciated category of residential property management. The old adage in property management...

The power of the word

I’m quite distraught. I was eating my personal trainer approved afternoon snack of 12 almonds (my suggestion of 12 Tim Tams: not approved)...

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Appropriately Funny or Inappropriately Crude?

My project director Megan commented on a chalk board she’d seen at the front of a place of business today.

The quote on it read:
“If quizzes are quizzical, then what are tests?”

I giggled wildly when she told me this. Her question to me though, was did I feel this was appropriate material to be displayed in front of a respectable business?

It’s a hard one to answer! On the plus side:
• It made me chuckle
• I remember the business a little more now than I did previously
• It lets me know a little about the personality of the shop owner
• It makes me more likely to check out their chalk board next time I walk past
• It made enough of an impact on Megan that she mentioned it (word of mouth)

On the negative side, I’m sure some people might get offended by the joke. I wasn’t offended, I had my chuckle and I’m sure I will again next time I enter this shop!

Not too many things in life are ever completely black and white – but in this case all the positives could be gained without fear of the negative if the joke / saying choice were a little more PG rated.

Here’s some to consider if you’re thinking of doing something like this to put some laughter into someone’s day and hopefully get them talking about your business in a positive way!

Son, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet! They're about to announce the lottery numbers. - Homer Simpson

Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and I thought to myself, where the heck is the ceiling.

Energizer Bunny arrested, charged with battery.

Keep smiling – and making others smile!

Be memorable!

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Hrm... this got me thinking...

I was kicking back today reading “Make a name for yourself” by Scott Ginsberg (aka That guy who wears a nametag 24/7). Great book – lots of neat, easy to implement ideas.

But then I just read this one part where Scott encourages you to complete the sentence… “To me happiness is…”

Hrrm… I was stumped! Now I fully believe that you attract what you focus on, but here I was unable to answer that question easily! I thought to myself, "How can I be attracting happiness if I can’t even define it!".

It was a great lesson for me to sit down and run through the possibilities…

Here are some earlier drafts:

To me happiness is…
being in the company of amazing people
achieving my goals
anything that makes me smile
not answering this stupid question because I can’t answer it!!!!
cupcakes, daffodils and a good night’s sleep
feeling a sense of accomplishment

I wasn’t happy with any of these responses and it took me about a day before I came up with one I was happy with.

So let me leave you with some wise words from Scott Ginsberg…

1. Figure out how you would complete to following sentence: “To me, happiness is ______________.”
2. Make sure the answer doesn’t hurt anybody, including yourself.
3. Guard it with your life.
4. Commence happiness.

And if you want to know what my eventual answer was – email me: http://www.kirstydunphey.com/contact.html and tell me your answer!

By Kirsty Dunphey with 2 comments

Thursday, August 16, 2007

A simple difference is all it takes

I was in full multi-tasking glory; typing, skyping and emailing, when I called my hairdresser the other day. I was calling to make a simple appointment and was (obviously) not paying full attention to the call.

The answer to my ringing phone was “Welcome to Bladerunner, how can I make your day today?”

How can they make my day today?

I can’t remember ever having been asked how someone could make my day on the phone. It was unexpected, different and it got my attention.

I had an instant shift from multi-tasking maniac to a smiling fan and all it took was a change in the way they answered their phone.

What could you subtly change about the way you to do business to have this same effect?

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

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