Is It An Asset Or Just Making You An Ass?

What’s not an asset in your business?

1. Your systems (if they’re only in your head)

2. Your written systems (if they’re rigid, inflexible, un-personalised and can’t be changed with influence from your team and customers)

3. Your number one customer (if your business is too dependant upon having their custom)

4. The customer you’re dealing with right now (if you don’t have a service plan in place to nurture the relationship into the future)

5. Your best salesperson / employee (if they believe that they’re indispensable, worst still if you believe they are)

6. Your longest standing employee (if they can’t embrace change)

What could be a hidden asset?

1. Your customer complaints (they should scream to you: fix or implement a system here)

2. Your outgoing emails (many could serve as a blog post, an answer to a frequently answered question and a reason never to have to type that same email answering that same question ever again)

3. Your current customer when you only have a few (One delighted customer (if you do it right) can talk about you ten times more than 10 moderately satisfied ones)

4. Your suppliers (if there’s a hidden customer hiding there)

5. That plucky (translation: sometimes annoying) employee who just won’t shut up with all their great ideas (find a way to channel their creativity so that you don’t get frustrated, and so that you can farm any brilliance that may occur)

6. That employee you know has dreams and desires of leaving you and starting their own company (figure out a way to encourage, challenge and inspire them, utilising the best they have to offer while they’re with you – who knows you might also end up with a dedication in their book once they’ve gone on to further greatness)

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Success Junkie Interview - Kelly Perdew - Entrepreneur and Donald Trump's Apprentice

After winning the second season of the NBC hit show, The Apprentice, Kelly spent 2005 as an Executive Vice President in the Trump Organization, where he managed several projects. Kelly earned a BS from the US Military Academy, West Point, a JD from the UCLA School of Law, and an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA. Kelly authored, “TAKE COMMAND: 10 Leadership Principles I Learned in the Military and Put to Work for Donald Trump,” to provide guidance on how anyone can develop their leadership capabilities and he donates a percentage of the royalties to the USO.

Kelly Perdew is the CEO of www.rotohog.com. RotoHog provides the best fantasy sports platform in the world. The unique RotoHog game solves many of the problems that have plagued the Fantasy Sports industry for years. Currently, they serve as the official fantasy basketball game provider for the NBA, and have created NBA.com's most successful online game, the NBA Stock Exchange. RotoHog also powers a fantasy soccer game for ClicRBS, a major Brazilian media company. In addition to providing fantasy sports games for major media companies and leagues, www.rotohog.com provides fantasy sports games directly to users on their site.

Your background including the military side is very different to the other Apprentice winners, how do you feel this gave you an advantage during the interview process?

Actually, I wrote my book about how my military background assists me in business and how it helped prepare me for any situation – including competing on and winning The Apprentice. Specifically for The Apprentice, my background helped me because I learned how to remain calm and focused under pressure, learned how to lead people, and learned how to solve problems creatively.

While reading your book Take Command I found myself completely seeing how the values instilled in you during through your military time (Duty, Impeccability, Passion, Perseverance, Planning, Teamwork, Loyalty, Flexibility, Selfless Service and Integrity) would serve an aspiring entrepreneur or intrapreneur. Would you recommend some sort of military service for anyone looking to follow that path?

Military service is not for everyone and it is not the only place where those leadership qualities are instilled, but it is one of the best. Every individual must first understand themselves and determine what will truly make them happy. Not their parents, not their kids, not their partner…really understanding what makes you “tick” will help you decide the path to follow.

I'm a big believer that failure and the ability to deal with it shapes many entrepreneurs. What failures have you encountered and what would you change looking back?

My first start up was a "failure". I learned so many important things in that endeavor…

1. Be careful taking investment money from friends and family
2. Make sure to surround yourself with great advisors
3. Raise as much money as you can when you’re raising money
4. Think big
5. Never underestimate the competition

What three books would you recommend all aspiring business people read?

1. The Art of War – Real World Strategy
2. Done Deals – VC Stories
3. The Cashflow Quadrant – What do you want to be?

What were the three things you now see were most vital to your win as the Apprentice.

1. Think strategically all the time
2. Organized planning is critical
3. Keep your head about when all those are losing theirs (stole that from Kipling)

What three things surprised you during your year working with Donald Trump?

1. Donald gets 100 requests a day from people and organizations asking for things.
2. Donald has people that have been working with him/for him for 30+ years. 3. He gets invited to a lot of parties!

I know that you have some exciting new projects including Rotohog.com - what's next for Kelly Perdew and how will your time as the Apprentice contribute towards who you are going forward?

I was very lucky to make it onto the show and I feel incredibly fortunate to have won. One of the best things about winning was it gave me a platform to help some causes I support – Big Brothers/Sisters, The National Guard Youth Challenge Program and the USO. www.rotohog.com is a platform for fantasy sports so come play on www.rotohog.com!

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Can Childhood Dreams Come True?

When I was a kid, I had one recurring dream (that wasn’t a nightmare about Witches from Roald Dahl’s book of the same name). I would climb our fence and jump off it with a towel strapped to my back, just before I hit the ground I would swoop up into the air flying away or towards whatever that dream happened to be about (giants, piles of lollies, you get the drift). I know lots of you have had the same or similar dreams, maybe even a few of you have acted them out with the same painful consequences I encountered, but in watching the following video, which I’m ga-ga about, I realised that if my childhood dream of flying could come true surely nothing is impossible.



If you think back to your childhood your dream may not have been flying, it may have been going to Disneyland, having a happy family with 7 kids, buying your Mum a brand new car, starting your own business or eating 25 big boss cigars in a single sitting.

Maybe you even dreamed of selling a sibling (hey – if James Blunt can do it…)



I don’t know what your childhood dreams were, but I do know that in this world, not much is out of the realms of possibility. Take 5 minutes today and think about what you dreamt of when you were a child, and if you still want it, get to it. I’ve put base jumping in the flying suit in my goal box what’s going in yours?

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 1 comment

Success Junkie Interview - Kevin Eikenberry - leadership and learning expert, author, speaker and Chief Potential Officer.

Kevin is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a learning consulting company that has been helping organizations, teams and individuals reach their potential since 1993. Emphasizing the power of learning, Kevin’s specialties include leadership, teams and teamwork, organizational culture, facilitating change, training trainers and more.

Kevin’s philosophy in business and in life is that every person and every organization has extraordinary potential. Investments of time, energy, focus and money are required for that potential to be realized. He believes learning is an active, ongoing process, not a passive, one-time event. Learning, work and life should be fun; and if we are doing it right, work (and learning) is play.

Kevin, in your work as a consultant and speaker specialising in leadership development. What would you feel are the top 3 characteristics that the world's best leaders possess.

In my book Remarkable Leadership I identify 13 competencies that I believe are the package of behaviors and skills that we all work from, so it is hard for me to pick three specifically. The characteristic that most of don't think about, but is tremendously valuable is being a continual learner. The best leaders recognize that great leadership is complex and therefore a journey. The journey of improvement is a journey of learning. Beyond this critical habit, I believe that the most successful leaders recognize and build on their unique strengths. It is our greatest strengths that propel us towards our potential.

Let's ask you the age old question - leaders, born or made?

Yes! Leaders are born (with our unique set of DNA that gives us the potential to be great) and made (the skills of leadership are developed, taught and practiced throughout our lives). If we think great leaders are born (and it isn't us), then we can easily be cynical about our ability to lead (after all, we can't be great if we weren't born with "it", right?). If we think it is all about being made, then we don't recognize the value of our unique collection of innate skills and abilities.

Your book Remarkable Leadership is a great read. What would you consider to be your top 5 "must read" recommendations for our readers and why?

It is hard to pick just five books! I've thought about your question for some time though, and I came up with some books that I believe everyone - leaders included - should read.

The Greatest Miracle in the World - Og Mandino
Influence - The Psychology of Persuasion - Robert Cialdini
How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
The Leadership Challenge - Jim Kouzes & Barry Posner
Something from Tom Peters (take your pick)
And of course, Remarkable Leadership!

You can learn about Kevin and his products and services at: http://KevinEikenberry.com and http://RemarkableLeadershipBook.com

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When Is The Right Time To Bad Mouth Your Competitors?

Earlier this week I went to see a health practitioner, let’s call him Dr. Chris. When I mentioned that I’d previously seen a different health practitioner, let’s call him Dr. Joe, to treat my ailment Dr. Chris then proceeded to tell me that Dr. Joe was every sort of evil under the sun and had probably ruined me for life with his service.

I left with a pretty uneasy feeling about Dr. Chris – I found the talk unprofessional, unnecessary and I left feeling no less confident about Dr. Joe! All Dr. Chris did was make me feel less confident in him.

So when is the right time to bad mouth your competitors?

1. When you really really want the client?
2. When you know for a certainty that your competitor is a really dodgy character?
3. When your client starts to bad mouth them first?

In short, NO NO NO!

Even if you really want the client, bad mouthing your competitor only makes you appear unprofessional. The alternative: Just talk up your own positive points (without saying you do it better than your competitor, that still counts as bad mouthing). Check out this link to see when bad-mouthing goes to a ridiculous level http://www.designersmind.com/creative-showcase/creative-airline-advertisements/. I also saw today Virgin Blue’s rewards program Velocity entered the grey zone in bad mouthing stating something to the effect of: “the new Qantas Frequent Flyer Rewards program proudly brought to you by Velocity” which reminded me a little of these airline adverts.

Even if you are 100% positive that your competitor is a dodgy character, bad mouthing them makes you look like even more of a dodgy character! The alternative: recommend that your client asks to speak to people who’ve dealt with whichever professional they are going to do business with, this way they can get the real truth about your competitor from their previous clients (be prepared though that this also means you recommend they speak to your clients!)

If your client starts to bad mouth your competitor, even then – don’t help them get stuck in! The alternative: tell your client what you would do in any situation where they have had bad previous dealings and see if that’s how they would like to be dealt with in the future.

On the flipside… if you’re this major company – you can make an entire ad campaign with Drew Barrymore’s paramour (sorry – but I love that rhyme) bad mouthing your competitors http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/

But without Apple’s budget and ad-guys – you’re probably going to end up no more slick than this:



My preferred method? Do the opposite and find opportunities to congratulate your competitors. This worked exceptionally well for me in real estate. I’d make sure I knew a positive point about the agents I most regularly competed with so that I could say credibly something like: “Sue’s lovely, she writes really creative advertisements and she keeps the rest of us on our toes in that respect”. Client’s don’t expect it and most respect you for taking the high road.

And back to Dr. Chris and Dr. Joe, the first thing I did when I went home was let the friend who’d referred me to Dr. Chris know what he’d said about Dr. Joe. Being that Dr. Joe’s a personal friend of hers I’m not sure Dr. Chris will be getting too many other referrals from her.

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Aliases (not the Sydney Bristow type)

A lot of things bug me. One of them is seeing a company with a website that doesn’t have email @ that website. For example, their business card will read:

Website: www.bucketoftrouble.com
Email: bucketoftrouble@yahoo.com

It just drives me insane that someone would go to the trouble of having a domain name, but not also have service@bucketoftrouble.com / james@bucketoftrouble.com etc as their email aliases.

While I’m ranting thought, let me tell you one thing that doesn’t bug me. Companies that make clever usage of their email aliases:

legendaryservice [at] atlassian.com reminded me how much I love interesting email aliases this morning (why am I typing [at] instead of using the @ - because this is a real email addresses – and I don’t want them to get besigued with spam)

What does it cost you to get another email alias set up so that Robyn at your work had the email:

robyn@48hoursaday.com as well as

rockstarrobyn@48hoursaday.com or ordersuperstar@48hoursaday.com

Well, with my internet hosting set up, it wouldn’t cost me anything extra. You might find it costs a couple of extra dollars set up, once off.

But the benefits are: You make Robyn smile, you make Robyn more likely to want to give her email address out (and your company domain conversely) to everyone she knows, you make your customer smile, you show a bit of your personality. All good things if you ask me.

To check out a very cute use of email aliases see the last two staff members on this page: http://www.century21.com.au/web/agents/staff.cfm?grpofcecode=NSW202

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What happens in Mexico…

Friends and I were chatting recently about our favourite places in the world to shop. Paris, Berlin, London, Thailand all got a mention along with one of my favourites Mexico.

I’ve only spent half a day in Mexico (so far!) – but it was one of the most enjoyable shopping experiences of my life.

Why?

Firstly, I love to bargain – and so did the shop owners I met in Mexico.

Secondly, the entertainment value was immense. To prove to me that it was real gemstones, leather or silver I was being sold, every merchant we met in Mexico whipped out a lighter and burnt their product saying that real gems don’t melt and plastic burns but leather doesn’t etc (highly entertaining especially after a few daiquiris).

In having this discussion with friends however I was told what may be an urban myth about shopping in Tijuana, Mexico. The myth being that when you purchase something you’re given a plastic bag that corresponds to your strength as a buyer.

As an example, a yellow bag may mean you’re a complete push over and will pay way over market value but a blue bag may mean you’re a hard negotiator who’ll drive the price down and bargain til you’re blue in the face.

Is it true? I have no idea. But I must admit – I think its genius.

Imagine if we could do this in other areas of life. If your employer were to send you out to the marketplace secretly colour coded say with red meaning you were a world class invaluable employee, how do you think that would impact the next job interview you went on? What secret colour coding would you have if your clients were secretly rating you? Your boss? Your family? Your friends?

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Why do I have 42 goals?

After the tragically early passing of a friend last year at the very young age of 42, I wrote the number 42 on my hand and kept rewriting it there for days afterwards. I was stunned that someone so vital could have their life cut short at such a young age.

Right now, I have the number 42 on the side of my laptop, always in sight. It’s not there to be macabre, it’s not even just there to remind me of this fabulous man I knew.

42 reminds me that:

1. I probably won’t have much of a say in when my last day on earth will come (difficult for a control freak).

2. That day could come when I’m in my 80’s (http://www.smartcompany.com.au/Free-Articles/Trends/20080707-Women-live-longer-by-the-beach-men-in-the-cold.html?source=cmailer) or it may come sooner or later, either way, see point 1.

3. When that day comes, I do not want to look back and say “I wish I’d done…” or “if only…” or “why didn’t I make time to…”.

So often people ask me about how to set goals for themselves. When it comes to life’s larger goals, I use 42 and ask myself the question: “If I could transport myself forward in time to my last day on earth, what are the things I would have liked to accomplish during that time?”

When you ask yourself that question, often you’ll find a list of life goals will simply flow.

To check out one man’s adventurous search for goal achievement in his life head to: http://johngoddard.info/

To listen to a truly inspiring speech entitled “the last lecture” by Dr. Randy Pausch often spoken of as “the dying man who is teaching people to live” head here http://kirstydunphey.blogspot.com/2008/06/wow-last-lecture.html

To see what short term goal I just achieved, check out http://kirstydunphey.blogspot.com/2008/06/goal-achieved.html

If your goals includes travel, you might enjoy: http://kirstydunphey.blogspot.com/2008/06/goals-need-update.html

To see how I keep track of my goals: http://kirstydunphey.blogspot.com/2008/02/secret-weapons-to-success-could-be.html

http://www.allaboutolive.com.au/ and check out the final blog of “the world’s” oldest blogger, who lived and blogged into her 106th year before her passing on the 12th of July 2008.

Postscript: I wrote this blog last week, and then this week I was sadly informed of a distant friend, a father of two young boys, who passed of cancer at age 33. I’ve held the blog back, not even sure that I wanted to print it given the recent news. But then a conversation with this man’s close friend showed me that I needed to print this. In his last months, knowing that his last day might be very soon, this father of two took his family away and they enjoyed the trip of life time. They really lived, loved and enjoyed his last few months. My wish for each of you reading this is that you can look back and say that you truly lived as many of the months in your life as possible. Don’t wait until an illness makes you realise your mortality, 42 and now 33 remind me of that each day.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

The Weighty Burden Of Anticipating Customer Needs

I travel a lot. I also like to shop. I do not however care to repeat my first international travel experience where I had to pay $250 pounds (more than a fortune for me at the time) to get all of my luggage home after my first trip abroad.

One of my favourite bloggers Seth Godin talks about staying at a $300 a night hotel with the groovy addition of an etch-a-sketch to the room (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/all_marketers_are_liars/2005/06/the-9-story.html). Now as much fun as that sounds, and as much as I applaud this hotel for having some fun, I’d trade the etch-a-sketch, the mini bar, the teeny tiny shampoo, the four extra pillows, the groovy lights all controlled by the one bedside panel for one set of hotel luggage scales.

I am yet to stay in a hotel that offers a luggage scale. Instead on a recent hotel stay I was confronted with a sign telling me not to weigh my luggage on the gym scales.

Now I’m thinking, If these hotels know I’m considering lugging my oversized luggage down 5 levels in an elevator, across a courtyard, along the pool and up 4 steps to use the gym scales – why couldn’t they simply have a conveniently located luggage scale near the lobby?

Talk about knowing a customer’s needs and then blatantly ignoring them!

Whatever your business may be, listen for signs that your customers are crying out for something. My advice: don’t try and change them, look inside and find the way to say yes to your customers, instead of no, don’t or can’t.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Swallow Your Pride, Keep Your Staff

The year was 1987 and I was a plucky young grade 3 girl in a country school with fewer than 30 students. As such, I was in a grade 3-4-5-6 class. The object of my affection was a floppy haired blonde grade 6 boy.

Each day I would make eyes at him over the crayon box and then eventually, slowly but surely, we became friends. That is until “the briefcase incident” when our burgeoning relationship came to a startling halt.

Sixth grade boy was up in front of the class telling everyone about this new briefcase his father had bought him. “Me father bought me this great briefcase for my birthday…” he started.

Without even thinking I corrected him “my father you mean”. What degenerated over the next few minutes was grade 6 boy insisting that it was his father and not mine who had purchased the briefcase and me wanting to be sucked into the earth whole for the sheer embarrassment of it all.

I’ve often thought back to that “the briefcase incident” in my dealings managing staff. It’s helped me bite my tongue or take a conversation into a private area when I’ve had a criticism or suggestion for a staff member, and while I didn’t end up with the blonde 6th grader, hopefully the incident has helped me a little bit with staff retention in the days since then.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 1 comment

Real Estate Survey

Hi guys,

I'm conducting a survey on real estate agents - just 14 multiple choice questions which should only take a few minutes to answer

http://www.esurveyspro.com/Survey.aspx?id=ead6348a-6385-4955-81b7-df3c3e1410f3

I would love it if you could fill this in and also forward to as many people as you can so that we can reach our goal of 1,000 respondents.

All answers are confidential and we don't collect your information.

Thank you!

Kirsty :)

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5 Simple Tips To Have More Media Love

To release or not to release that is the question (press release that is) – and if that is the question, my answer is always to release! To follow are 5 simple tips to get more loved up with the media:

1. Set yourself a press / media release goal. I think once a month is a good frequency, but if you’re not doing any now – what about once a quarter. Don’t have enough to write about each month? (new staff member, award, record sale, new premises, community involvement) – why not use this as a trigger to remind you to make something happen!

2. Start to form relationships with the journalists that cover your business. Send them a card or small thank you gift after any media coverage. Keep their contact details on file and send releases targeted to “their” type of story direct to them.

3. Be snappy. If your local newspaper or TV station calls you wanting a quote or an interview, get onto it quickly. Chances are they can’t (and won’t) wait for you to finish your lunch.

4. Invite your local media to all your events (Christmas party for photos and a slice of cake, grand opening for bubbly and an interview).

5. Check out http://www.pressreleasegrader.com/ once you’ve written your press release to have it “graded” online.

Thanks to Joan Stewart’s http://www.PublicityHound.com/ newsletter (which is fabulous) for the following tip off about a great little online tool:
Joan tells us that the grader deducts points for:
--No links high in the release.
--Not using "###" at the end of the release, the universal code for "the end."
--Incorrect use of anchor text. That is, the words on the page that link to a website.
--Gobbledygook words like "flexible," "scalable" and "robust."
We just trialled it on our latest press release and it was so simple and easy to use! Australian users take note that it may not think your phone number is valid as it’s a US based tool.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

How Much Do You Contribute To The Success Of Your Company?

What do movies Cocktail, Back to the Future (parts 2 and 3) and the Karate Kid all have in common?

Well apart from being 4 of my favourite movies of all time (c’mon they’re classics!) they all have Elisabeth Shue in the quintessential “girlfriend” role.

Now we all know Tom Cruise and Michael J. Fox and I’m sure if Ralph Macchio got into the crane position or said “wax on wax off” you’d remember him quicker than Mr. Miyagi’s chopsticks, but Elisabeth “Who” you might say and I might agree with you (my strange love of movie trivia aside).

How does an actress co-star in 1984’s 5th top grossing movie (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1984&p=.htm), 88’s 9th top grossing (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1988&p=.htm) and 89 and 90’s 6th and 11th (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1990&p=.htm) top grossing movies respectively (over $370 million gross) and be so unrecognisable!

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that these movies would have been huge hits with or without Elisabeth Shue.

Now why am I rambling on about forgotten 80’s movie stars? Well – Elisabeth Shue reminds me of how some people function within organisations. They can be part of a successful company, or team, but are they integral in creating that success, that impact?

Questions to ask yourself today:

• Would this company / business / organisation / not for profit have the same impact (whether that be on profit, customers, the world) if I weren’t here?
• Are you a Michael J. Fox or an Elisabeth Shue right now?
• Without jumping on Oprah’s couch – what can you do to become more memorable (for all the right reasons) in your organisation?

And just so you don’t think I’m all about having a go at Elisabeth Shue I highly recommend you check out 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113627/) (if you brace yourself for a very strong, in your face movie). It earned Ms. Shue an academy award nomination and I don’t think that movie would have been the same without her (but Mighty Morphin Power Rangers did bring in more $$’s than it that year!)

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Anthill Australia Magazine's Cool Company Awards 2008

Nominations now open - http://www.anthillonline.com/article_detail.php?id=560

The inaugural Cool Company Awards were launched in February 2006 as a way for Anthill Magazine to celebrate Australian organisations that are doing things differently or defying convention to bring about positive change.

So, what does this mean?

Cool Companies manage to stay one step ahead of the rest. They breed leaders who are rule-makers and rule-breakers. They are organisations that aspire to be admired. They are trend-setters in attitude and action. Quite simply, they are cool.

So get cracking and nominate an Australian company you know fits the bill! They're especially looking for web based companies right now.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Farwell And Take A Risk!

With my husband’s line of work (fire fighter / police office / spunky uniform wearer) I send him off to work each and every day with “I love you and… be careful”. In his lines of work, the “be careful” seems really fitting to me.

But what should he say to me as I head in to work? Perhaps he should send me to work with “take a risk” instead of “be careful”?

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Threadless presentation - the awesome way to make money on the internet

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

I Found A Mini-Sales Superstar In Vietnam

While holidaying in South East Asia earlier this year I was besieged by young boys selling postcards. “10 postcards for a dollar” to be exact and I heard the phrase more times than I care to remember.

After buying my postcards in Cambodia, Thailand and again in Vietnam I really had no further need for postcards. But that of course didn’t stop the onslaught of sales inquiries. The persistence of these young boys (some I’m sure as young as 4) was to be applauded, but I wasn’t keen to come home with additional luggage completely comprised only of postcards. It got to a stage where my automatic response was “no” when we saw anyone approaching with postcards.

Until that is one sunny afternoon in the seaside locale of Nha Trang Vietnam where I sat sipping cocktails with friends. A young boy, maybe 11 approached postcards in hand. I gave the standard response and was about to turn back to my cocktail when he pulled out a Connect Four board. His “sales pitch” to me was that we’d play Connect Four – if he won, I’d buy the cards, if I won, the cards were mine free.

My husband ordered another beer at this stage, knowing that all hope was lost as soon as this boy pulled out the game. You see, not only do I love games, but I’m also a sucker for an innovative sales pitch.

So we played, I got beaten (badly). We played again and I got beaten again. I cut my losses then and paid slightly higher than the normal postcard price for my 20 gleaming new postcards.

This eleven year old boy knew more about selling than many I encounter who’ve had a formal education.

1. He was different! Imitating everyone else would have gotten him nowhere in this case.
2. He made me an offer I found hard to refuse. The lure of a battle of the brains for the cards was a bit of excitement for my afternoon.
3. He had a win / win situation. He was a connect four rock star, but c’mon what tourist is really not going to pay anything if they were to win?
4. He never stopped selling. He asked me to play again after the first game.
5. He left me with a smile on my face. True value for money if you ask me.

I think any of us in sales (and isn’t that all of us really?) could learn something from this mini-sales dynamo.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

UK apprentice - so not Trump!

I'm loving watching all four seasons of the UK version of the Apprentice online right now.

Check out the playlists here: On YouTube.

Or start watching season4, episode 1, part 1 below:



Sir Alan Sugar is really different from The Donald in the US version, but a copy wouldn't be half as satisfying. Brace yourself, the Brits swear a LOT more and there's more of a focus on Sir Alan finding an "apprentice", whereas in the States, the show's winners are almost always very successful entrepreneurs in their own rights.

Also check out this recent news article on what Sir Alan's up to now http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4f838524-4898-11dd-a851-000077b07658.html

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Desirable, Enviable, Aspire-able? Not You… Your Company!

Three different ways to get a long / longer queue of applicants and potential job seekers wanting to work for your company in a candidate short world.

1. Make it fun
I only had to see this picture of the slide that employees can use to get between floors at Red Bull London – and I was instantly daydreaming working in the energy drink world.

See also:

http://positivesharing.com/2007/03/12-ways-to-pimp-your-office/ - 12 ways to pimp your office

http://positivesharing.com/2006/10/10-seeeeeriously-cool-workplaces/ - and 10 Seeeeriously cool workplaces (where I found my future workplace)

2. Make it personable
Ebay CEO of 10 years Meg Whitman sat side by side with her employees in the same size cubicle as everyone else (hers is lined with toys, see above).

Walt Disney set the example of picking up rubbish whenever he saw it on the grounds at Disneyland. He wasn’t too big to do it, neither are Disney staff.

Also see a rather interesting article by guru Guy Kawasaki entitled is your boss an a**hole (just a warning - he’s a big boy though so he doesn’t use the **s) http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/02/is_your_boss_an.html

3. Make a difference
For every pair of shoes sold by www.tomsshoes.com they’ll give a pair to a child in need (one for one as they’re so fond of saying). They’ve already given out over 60,000 pairs in Argentina and South Africa.

This comment from on their myspace page (www.myspace.com/blakemycoskie) : “So, I just got an internship with your company. I’ve never been so happy to be a part of something in my entire life. You’re such an inspiration & I hope you realize how much of an effect you have on people.”

Oh yeah – this person is so over the moon and this is an unpaid internship. Most people aren’t this happy to go to jobs where they’re paid bucket-loads.
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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Book Review - Rules For Renegades by Christine Comaford-Lynch

Finally - an author who uses "rock" as a verb as much as me!

That said, this is definitely one of the strangest business books I've read in a long time - and this is the genre I read about 95% of the time. About half way through the book I was saying to my friends "can you believe she's writing about sleeping with Bill Gates in this book?" - but you know what, I was talking about it, I was creating buzz for the book and I certainly couldn't put it down. I don't know if you'd describe the author Christine as likeable, nor would I say she's trying to be: she's flawed, but she knows it (and aren't we all), she's a character (wait a minute, she's a monk, a geisha, a burnout, a tech-head, an investor, an entrepreneur - make that she's multiple characters), but by the end of the book I really connected with the message that she was trying to put out. Interesting and slightly shocking reading, definitely not predictable.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 2 comments