Thanksgiving

"I wish I could let you inside my soul. It is there that you would feel my true thanksgiving. My words can't accurately define it and my actions don't adequately demonstrate the overwhelming gratefulness that fuels my heart."

Coffee Perks

I’m a serial dater, a bona-fide serial coffee dater. It makes perfect sense. I mean I am the Sales Barista!

A while back I was challenged on an invitation I extended for a coffee date. Denied! I was told coffee is just that – “coffee” a pick-it-up-and-go or brew-it-at-home beverage. Oh how my heart was ripped out! For the love of coffee beans, it’s so much more!

So I forced myself into self-reflection: Why do I prefer coffee dates versus any other kind of meeting?

I boiled it down to one main reason: coffee creates connections.

In this technology-ridden world, it’s a brief time to turn away from the smartphones and focus, engage, and connect with a “smartperson” in a relaxed and welcoming environment. It’s not professionally stuffy, it’s not yoga-pants casual, but instead it is perfectly brewed friendly.

Here are the coffee house connections you can capitalize on:

1. Caffeine. The most popular “drug,” caffeine, boosts energy and alertness when consumed properly. One too many espressos and you may trigger the jitters. However, when you get the dosage just right, it can connect you to a heightened sense of focus and awareness, a huge asset when meeting with prospects, customers, or friends.

2. Conversations. This is the main reason I connect with people over coffee, is because it forces authentic and genuine conversations. If I ask you to coffee, I’m looking to talk, listen, share, collaborate, and communicate together. One-on-one. It’s that simple.

3. Concentration. Laser-sharp focus. Meet in an office, conference room, or a home, and you are subject to interruptions. Meet at your favorite coffee shop and post-order you are left to your own devices. Most coffeehouse-goers are very respectful of not bothering their other smart brew-sipping neighbors. This allows you to dive into deeper concentration and be more productive in less time.

4. Creativity. I also make coffee dates with myself. It’s my creativity haven. I have my very own “Cheers.” It’s called Cast Iron Waffles. My favorite barista, Elsa, knows me, knows my order, and knows to leave me alone once I sit down at my bar stool, open my MacBook Pro, and put in my ear buds. It’s the environment that invokes my most creative juices. I connect, like most other creative types, to the aroma, buzz, and personality of a coffee shop.

OK, OK, so for those of you who may not love coffee, hopefully you are still reading. You may not love coffee shops. You may hate them (GASP!). That’s ok. This is what works for me. What else would you expect from a Sales Barista? The point isn’t to force yourself to make coffee dates if you know it doesn’t work for you. The point is for you to find your own special place to plan professional, personal, and solo dates where you can communicate and concentrate more effectively.

Uncover your place and you will begin to create a calendar with dates you look forward to. Uncover your place and you will begin to be inspired to create deeper connections with others. Uncover your place and you will begin to connect with the person who matters most - YOU!

Stephanie Melish, one of the few, hand-selected, Gitomer-Certified Speakers is the ONLY Double-Tall, Non-Fat, No-Whip Sales Barista in the world! Stephanie trains, sells, and speaks to companies and associations all over the country. To book Stephanie for your next event, please visit www.GitomerCertified.com or contact the Michelle at Buy Gitomer via email at michelle@gitomer.com or by calling 704-333-1112.

Meet Me in My Dreams

"Every night you are my last thought before I slip into sweet dreams, 

where my only hope is you will be there to meet me."

Road to Success

75 years ago, the Wizard of Oz, transformed movies by coloring the world with ruby-red slippers, yellow-brick roads, and a land somewhere over the rainbow of sparkling emerald green. The story about Dorothy and her trusty dog/BFF Toto’s journey to find their way back to Kansas is one full of life’s success lessons.

On the surface, the movie presents a story about good and evil. One about making friends and learning there is no place like home. Scratch the surface deeper and you’ll find between the uncles and flying monkeys, that Dorothy’s 103 minute journey is one espousing the skills you need to be successful in the journey we are all on together, the one of life and success.

Following the Yellow Brick Road of Success:

1. Which Witch?

I suppose I've always had a good witch in me.
When I was 5, I wanted to be Glinda for Halloween,
so my Mom made me a custom costume. 

Glinda, the Good Witch of the North: “Only bad witches are ugly.”

You’re such a witch! Everyone is. The killer question: which witch are you? When Dorothy’s adventure began in Oz with her house crushing one witch, she quickly encountered two more: Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West. Both epitomize the polar opposites of personal outlook. There is the bubbly, soft-spoken, happy, oh-so-positive Glinda and then you have the hideous, cackling, negative, “I’ll get you my pretty and your little dog too,” Wicked Witch. Every day, every moment, you receive the privilege of deciding if you want to be positive or negative. Your attitude determines how others see you, beautiful or ugly, and you choose. If you want to be successful, you must first start with your internal attitude. Be positive and you’ll be more attractive to others.

2. Brain.

Dorothy: “How do you talk if you don't have a brain?”

Scarecrow: “Well, some people without brains do an awful lot of talking don't they?”
This brain is made for thinking, and that's just what it'll do. One of these days your brain is gonna think critically for you. Critical thinking is a long lost luxury amongst the world. And it’s two-fold. There is thinking before you act. Think before you speak. Think before you decide. Think before you proceed. And thinking about your abilities. Think that you can. Think that you will. Think that you are. Thinking is a complex process that contributes directly to your success. Your thoughts are powerful; choose wisely.

3. Heart.

Wizard of Oz: “A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.”
Love is the greatest of all. The heart of your success is to believe in what you do and have an unwavering passion. The happiest, healthiest, and most successful people radiate a love for what they do that is contagious. They are successful because others are attracted to the aura they project. What do you love? What are you passionate about? Find it and you’ll find your success.

4. Courage.

Wizard of Oz: “You have plenty of courage, I am sure," answered Oz. "All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.”

The adorable Cowardly Lion had no courage whatsoever because he lacked confidence. When you are full of self-confidence (not self-conceitedness) your courage follows. The courage to BE: be different, be memorable, be creative, be courageous, be criticized, be you. One of the most courageous characters of my lifetime has been Steve Jobs. He had the courage and confidence and creativity to see beyond the ordinary, to picture what could be, what would be, and then took action to make it happen despite critics.

Toward the end of the movie, the Tin Man asks Dorothy what she’s learned. She replies: “If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with!”

Your desires have and always will be with you. You will often fail because you choose to veer off the path of your true desire. Stay the course. Use your brain, your heart, and your courage to dance down the yellow brick road of success. When you do, you’ll find yourself living somewhere over the rainbow.

The Yellow Brick Road of Success is one of my signature keynote presentations. If you would like to learn more about booking me to share this message with you and your team, please email Michelle@Gitomer.com with the subject line – Yellow Brick Road.