How To Get the Most Money for Your House Cody Lewers and Dan Altmire   01:25  Wake Up Every Day and Look Good02:29 It's What The Buyer Says Your Home's Worth05:09 Strict Supply and Demand Issue08:12 10% More With 28 Contracts10:59 Representing Buyers in the Traditional Market14:02 The Smart Way of Selling Your House15:18 The Disruption to the Whole Marketplace16:54 19 Out of 20 People Had No Idea Why They Woke Up17:46 “Can You Tell Me Why You're Doing What You're Doing?”19:45 The Auction of the City of Rome  20:09  Sense of Urgency of an Auction22:10 Slanting the Power Back to the Seller 24:04  The System is Creating the Market Urgency26:19 Getting Emotionally Involved 29:16  Creating a New Normal  32:29 The Effects of the Pandemic 33:39 Current Inflation Is Only Temporary40:50  A Live Bidding Arena48:02 A Platform Generating A Bunch Of Value

A Story of A Woman With WOW Kellen Ann and Dan Altmire   02:34 The Background of Kellen Ann04:07 Daisy Senior Paw Connection05:39 The First Pug of Kellen06:01 Being a Cat Person07:40 Kellen Loves Playing Basketball10:11 Kellen’s Daughter Continued Her Footsteps in Sports 11:33 Starting a New Chapter After Her Daughter Finished College15:04 Selling Advertising to Commercial Real Estate During the Pandemic 15:38  When Did Kellen Start Creating Cards? 17:09 Targeting the Right People19:16 Cards That Wow - Going Bigger20:32  A Very Powerful Gift26:56 The Book of Kellen28:02 What is the Book All About?29:24 Having Two Types of ADHD30:46 Audio Books Were A Game Changer32:58 Kellen’s Regular Interview Shows36:58 Will Kellen Have a Publisher or Self-Publish the Book?39:26 The Planning of Moving Out 39:50 The Challenge of Dyslexia40:39 Kellen is Starting a New Life47:27 “One Of My Demons Is Life Balance”49:00 Where Does Kellen See the New Normal Taking?53:29 “The Biggest Thing I Learned With My Transformation”

The King of Going and Growing Live Ken Walls and Dan Altmire   00:01:12 The Interviews That Ken Walls Has Done 00:03:34 How Did Ken Walls Start Doing Online Interviews? 00:08:14 Things to Remember When Inviting a Guest in an Interview 00:10:19 The Challenges of Ken Walls When Conducting Online Interviews  00:12:12 You Get to Make the Rules on Your Own Show 00:14:33 Being Sound Judgy But Not Judging at All 00:15:54 The Process of Inviting Out a Guest On a Show 00:17:01 Why Does Ken Walls Have a Lot of Interviews?  00:17:35 “Best Known Always Beats the Best.” 00:22:33 Ken Walls Wishes to Interview the Former US President Donald Trump 00:26:03 One Bad Business Decision That Ken Walls Made 00:28:41 The Power of Live Streaming. 00:30:31 Learning How to Give Back to the World 00:33:14 Doing Pre-Recorded Videos Instead of Going Live 00:35:21 When It’s Perfect - You’re Missing It 00:39:41 The growlive.academy 00:40:46 The Training, The Program, The Academy 00:43:18 Clubhouse is a Great Platform  00:47:34 The Strength of Humor - When Delivered Properly Becomes So Much Better 00:51:54 “You need to raise your prices, like big time.”

The Brilliant Man from Hell Joachim Buaro and Dan Altmire   00:01:57 The Background of Joachim Buaro 00:04:16 The Creation of Floating Farms for Wind Energy 00:05:39 The Percentage of the Earth Surface Covered By Water 00:07:41 The Projects of Moving Freshwater Through the Sea 00:09:44 The Advantage of Speaking More Than Language 00:12:31 The Middle Wealth Challenge 00:14:43 People Don't Implement Complicated Things 00:18:00 The Use of Simplicity in Your Approach to Your Clients  00:20:29 The Power of Search Engines 00:27:50 Don’t Make an Agreement with an Angry Person 00:30:52 Human Intelligence Makes the Difference 00:34:17 You Can Make Your Future, But You Can’t Remake Your Past 00:45:53 Good Fiction is Good Fiction 00:54:01 Sustainable Food Production 00:56:00 If You Can Use It, You Won't Destroy It 00:57:30 Hydrogen - A Fuel That is More Sustainable 00:59:22 Listening to Science - Being Open to Try New Things

In today’s episode of the New Normal Chronicles, we are given a chance to talk to two amazing gentlemen, Tom Healy and Joe Buzzello. We are going to talk about all of the great things that both of them are doing right now.  How did Joe and Tom meet? Joe and Tom met on a golf course, almost six years ago. Of course, at first, they didn’t know each other, and for Tom, it was an interesting first meeting. It’s because they found something in common. Both of them have written a book and they also speak around the country.    One thing that kept the conversation between the two of them was when Joe shared his group of local entrepreneurs, and his activities around his peers, and talked about other details like their business and the issues, challenges, and opportunities that his group has.    For Tom, it was interesting for two reasons. One is that’s how he has been able to grow his own business, which started speaking on college campuses until it transformed into a consulting business. Then, he took everything that his team did across the country and it turned into an online education company.    After that, Tom got interested in knowing what Joe is doing in his group of entrepreneurs. He then found out that they have a great environment of people who are so vulnerable and have no ego and are very much willing to spill their guts. In one meeting, everyone gave feedback, Joe challenged them, held them accountable, gave them ideas and solutions, and introduced them to people.    Then, Tom told Joe that he wanted to build one of these in the future and Joe never disappointed him and helped him do his. Until one day, Joe came to Tom’s first meeting and it became successful. In fact, at some point, they just looked at each other and said, “Let's do this together. Let's co-facilitate these groups. Let's build more groups and a community of entrepreneurs and bring in speakers and do holiday parties and networking.” That’s how Joe and Tom met and began to build their friendship.  Is the Group Still Active Today? The initial groups they have are still active five years later. The majority of them are founding members, which means that they've been in the group for four or five years. They've gotten a lot of value out of it. Otherwise, at some point, they would have left. Tom further stated that in five years of the entrepreneur’s lives, they've seen some people exit their businesses successfully. They've seen people merge with other businesses and seen major life changes. They've seen all of these incredible things happening and being able to help each other, support each other, hold each other accountable along the way.    In January of 2020, even though Tom and Joe had a desire to build a national platform, they both decided to do more than just be a local, in-person, and brick-and-mortar community. But they found that it’s not so easy to make that pivot. However, the start of the pandemic has significantly helped them because people at the time felt more comfortable doing Zoom meetings and being around peers across the country, spending a few hours for online meetings.    Tom said that what they did was really powerful and rewarding. They were able to identify people with talent and expertise. That expertise could be a topic within the business, like working with a certain type of business based on size and it could be inside of a certain industry. The exciting thing about it is that these people are willing to share their skills and wisdom with others in a way that’s best for everyone.    Moreover, Tom got really intrigued with the idea of taking 10 people, putting them in a room and helping them with his skills, wisdom, and expertise. He always wanted to facilitate an incredible meeting so that there's a lot of peer coaching and peer mentorship going on inside his group.    However, there are some people out there who disliked their idea and didn’t want to join and participate. But when they walked through the model and the impact it has, and the reasons why you may want to create one, a lot of people have realized that they need one of those in the future. That’s why Joe and Tom have been fortunate and were able to do what they needed to do. It’s because people can't build a national, certainly not a worldwide company with just two people running meetings.    Hence, Tom and Joe now are in the business with great people and train them on everything they know on how to build and run these groups at a very high level. They’re even supporting them as they build and run those groups and then making sure that the members have a ton of value while doing it on a regular basis from the community.  Why Do People Want to Join in Your Group? According to Tom, one of the reasons that people join is because they are lonely. You may not believe it and it may sound horrible, but it’s true. When you're running an organization and you have an issue, a challenge, a problem, it’ll surely be difficult on your part. You may not have a board of directors and even if you did, you may not want to tell them about that problem. Even if you have a spouse, you may not feel comfortable sharing it with them or want to drag that into your relationship.    Moreover, some may be on a lonely island, which tends to become worse based on people being remote. That’s why they joined because they don't want to figure out every issue, challenge, opportunity, and problem on their own in a particular situation. They want to join because they believe that it’s a safe and helpful environment.    In addition, if you want to ramp up your digital marketing, someone may give you a few recommendations. So instead of Googling digital marketing agencies, you can simply get in touch with those people using their contact details. Hence, when you need something quick, you're getting it fast, and you're getting the right person, rather than searching a particular agency on Google, talking to ten options, and ending up picking the wrong one. That’ll surely make you spend so much money and time. You may all know that things that even seem small can be huge for an entrepreneur. So people join groups for that reason to get the help and the assistance they need.    Then, the feedback they get is not coming from one coach, a speaker on stage, but it's coming from people who have already dealt with anything they’re going through. They've seen it. They've done it. They've dealt with it. Besides that, they will also get a male and female perspective and from an introvert and an extrovert’s point of view. They will get all these diverse perspectives in the collective wisdom of the entire group giving feedback.    They will be given all this careful feedback from people who understand them and care about them. And ultimately, it’ll surely be better off 30 minutes later than they’re going into the meetings. So these are some of the reasons why many people today come to the group.  Being Not a Smart Person in the Room I spoke with a business owner a couple of weeks ago and he said that he wanted to be in a room where he’s not the smartest person in the group. But, you may all know that being a small business owner, you tend to feel that you’re the smartest person in the room. However, if you feel that way, then that’s one of the big reasons why you can’t learn and grow.    Moreover, every business has problems, and you can learn from what other people have been going through. In fact, a lot of new businesses from different industries can benefit from being in an environment like what Joe and Tom have. I would imagine from the fact that they can see the path that other people have taken. They've got a new network. Not just the network of the people in the room, but a network of all their contacts.   In addition, Tom said that the business owner is the smartest, has the biggest repertoire of skills, certainly is the hardest worker, or else they shouldn't be an entrepreneur. You need peers that are on your intellectual level, on your work ethic and drive level, and on your value system level. Another interesting thing about Tom and Joe’s groups is that if you know you held a gun to my head and said, “Okay, in your Tuesday group, who's the smartest person there?” There’s no right answer because it is that level of entrepreneurship and that makes everyone different from each other.    There may be a person who has excellent management talent, leadership skills, operation management, or who is skillful at marketing methods and strategies. Tom even added that every business owner, every entrepreneur, or everyone has certain things that they're really great at, or really good at.    So when you put 10 or 12 people in a room, you get someone who is more on operations, marketing, analytical, great with numbers, and many other skills and talents that can be very useful in business. So those who have joined these groups are people who don’t have an ego. They don't assume they know everything.  Dealing With the Changes in New Normal With the whole new normal concept, change is rapidly happening across the globe. If you can't be that person, one person alone can stay up with everything that's changing, especially in owning and running a business. It could be the change in the payroll guidelines and processes and other major parts of the company or organization. Besides that, the said changes may include how to deal with people coming back to work in the office and how to deal with people working remotely. So you can't be an expert at everything but still run the business.   Moreover, Tom mentioned that the rapid change has significantly influenced technology, the way people make purchases, the way people do marketing their business, and the list goes on. He even said that he had no idea about the new features on Zoom. But in terms of running these mastermind groups, he can put certain things on screen and he can add some little widgets and boxes.    So Tom keeps on learning something new to keep up with the new changes, especially when the pandemic starts in 2020. It’s because if you're not learning and growing and being around other people and having so much of that conversation in these groups, you’ll surely face different challenges in achieving the things you want.    When Tom facilitates any meeting, they don’t take a bathroom break. There's no filler. There's no networking. It's just a fast-paced environment. So over the course of three hours, they only sit there, they've got two pages of notes, they got to read a book, and got to check out the widgets.    In addition, Tom has to look into this new thing related to providing healthcare to employees. He just needs to go down the list, and if you weren't part of that group, you'd never know any of this. And if you're on two pages of notes, 12 months out of the year, 24 pages worth of stuff that is going to help you grow your business faster and be more efficient.    These are the best practices that are universal no matter what your business is. So over the course of the year, the amount of time and money you're saving, you can then see growth and progress because of all these tiny little best practices. It's tough to measure, but it's certainly significant. There is a time and place for everything. So the model that Joe and Tom are using is no better or worse than anything else out there. It's just different. For a certain type of person, it’ll be great and for others, it may be terrible.  What Can You Say About Networking? Tom said that when you look at networking, that's what it is. You're not going there to work on your business, but you're going there to be connected to more people. So if you are selling property and casualty insurance, you better be in one of those groups, find a high-performing group, grab a ton of leads, and scale your business. You may spend 90 minutes for one meeting every week because that’s the nature of what you’re doing. In fact, many years ago, Tom was in one of those groups, a very high-performing group and he was doing a lot of training locally on social media marketing. So it was phenomenal for him at that stage of his business at the time.    However, it’s quite different from what they're doing in their groups right now. In fact, they actually have zero in common even though they have a few members who are part of a particular networking group. What they usually do is really just working on the business. Most of the members in their group today are actually making six figures in their businesses. They pick it up from just being with them. That’s not what they’re going around the room, talking about networking, but it absolutely happens and it's a great benefit.    In addition, when you need something for your digital marketing campaign, you tend to look for a particular digital marketing agency, which is the best one possible. So the difference is that it's easy to find people, it's just tough to find really good ones and be immediately connected with them. Then, the beauty of it too is when you're at that owner or co-founder entrepreneur level, you're talking directly to the owner.    So if you entered your information on the “Contact Us” portion of somebody's website, you might be talking to an inside salesperson. But when an entrepreneur connects an entrepreneur with another entrepreneur, now you got the owner on the phone. With that, you can then ask direct questions, get the expert within that business, and have a productive conversation. Hence, you can always find so much value in being in that network and space. So a business could happen inside of people between people inside of the group.  Making Business with People You Trust You're building a very close relationship when you are in a particular group of entrepreneurs. It’s because people prefer to do business with people that they know, people that they trust. People that they’ve already seen their track record. So the longer those people stay in those groups together, the more their business and trust are intertwined. It may take a  few months or a year for that to happen. But again, over time, it happens and it happens more frequently.    Then, once you deliver it, that's the thing of networking is, when you're someone that does a plus work, and you're a great human being, and you're a nice person, and you do great work, and you don't rip people off, and your customer service is fantastic. Because of that, people get excited to refer you to them and people get really excited to go in. They love making that introduction because they know that they're in great hands. The recipient of what you offer will surely love it so much.    Besides that, the person that you introduce, they're happy to meet a great person in that space. So no matter what business you're in, you've got to be a great connector and you can connect a bunch of people. Again, it may take years, but the people who build a strong referral network of people that they can connect with, it's just such an important part of business these days.   It fosters a far deeper relationship. It’s far more vulnerable, a different environment, different place, but the groups that Joe and Tom have are an outlet for that. On top of that, what’s always surprising is how quickly that happens.  How Will People Find You if They Want to Join in Your Group? Tom and Joe are happy to talk to anyone who wants to be part of their group. They help people how to get started because it is what they do. In fact, they even have a world-class training program, which is all on-demand 45 modules, six hours of video, and a bunch of templates that teach people how to do it.    Besides that, Tom and Joe also have a strategy call with somebody to make sure that they're designing the right group, the right practice, their personal brands on target, and then they mentor them along the way and actually put them in a peer group. But the first step is to visit their website: growth10.com/prospective, which is a page dedicated to people who are interested in potentially doing this work.    So it walks through what growth10 is, who is great at leading groups, why you may want to consider leading groups, and then what their training works for them. Because you can even do it on your own, if you want to, you will most likely be successful. Tom said that because there are so many stupid little important things that go into building these groups.    It’s because when one thing is off, everything's off. If everything's perfect, but your pricing is wrong, or your marketing plan is wrong, or your lead generation partners aren't delivering, or your LinkedIn profile does not align with the group that you're building, all these tiny little things make a huge difference.    Moreover, Tom and Joe are very deliberate in how they train people who they invite into the training, and then ultimately, how they support them in the building process. In addition, Tom said that there’s the most enjoyable work they've ever done leading these groups. They meet really interesting people, they build deep relationships with them, they make a tremendous impact on their lives. They offer three-hour meetings once a month. They love turning the camera on. They love having those people who want to join them and learn from them eventually.  How Does a Business Owner Find Out How to Do That?  Tom and Joe have a website that they can visit, which is growth10.com. It’s just their regular homepage, and there is an “Apply” button that they can find on there. One thing that it allows them to do is to figure out the best group. You may all know that most people want to be around other organizations that are doing the same revenue as them in their industry.    They have it because they have these really talented people all over the world who are building very interesting and unique groups. So when someone asks to find the best group possible, Tom and Joe are usually able to plug them into a particular group they fit and are most interested in joining. So they only need to visit growth10.com.   Moreover, Joe and Tom are easy to find for whatever reason, whether you want to join a group or start a new group. You can just start off by sending an email to us at  tom@growthten.com and joe@growth10.com. You can get in touch with both of them and they will give you a call link.    These great gentlemen love talking to people and they are on Zoom almost the entire day. So they'll schedule a call and they can kick around some different ideas and answer any questions you have. Book Launching Tom and Joe have launched a book entitled “Entrepreneurial Landmines.” The book is all about the mistakes that most entrepreneurs make at the earlier stage of their careers. So if you've just started your business and don’t have enough knowledge and experience yet in the industry you’ve chosen, then this book is for you. There are 30 mistakes in there. It's broken down into the 10 key categories of running an entrepreneurial organization.    Do not go and buy it unless you really want a paperback version. But the audio, PDF, and ePub versions are all available for free. You can actually go to outsidethetank.com and sign up for the free book and Tom and Joe will provide it to you. The outsidethetank is the podcast Joe and Tom do where they interview Shark Tank entrepreneurs when people pitch the sharks. Every week, they do a really cool interview with one of the entrepreneurs and they have unbelievable lessons that you can also learn from. Coping With the Changes of Work Structure Tom said that the big mistake that organizations are making right now is they haven't picked the lane. It could be that we're all going back in person, we're going back to the way it was, or we are now a virtual organization where everyone else is going to be working remotely and permanently.    It’s because some people may prefer to go to the office. Some live locally and some don't. Others may work in the morning and some are in the evening, depending on their schedule. Besides that, some people are working in the office full time, rubbing elbows with all the leaders in the organization, and getting preferential treatment. So it's hard enough to manage people when you hold them to the same standards. Now, at some point, organizations are going to be okay with that and accept any changes that have been implemented.    As Tom said, if you don't want to be doing this, you can get out and look for your available options. You can either work from home or keep going to the office every day. It’s your choice. But sometimes, while making these blanket statements, there are younger people out there who want to work remotely. So the best thing to do is to figure out what's best for your organization.    However, one of the things that a lot of businesses are struggling with right now is a lack of decisiveness. So the key is to have a plan in place and ensure to make a decision that’s best for your organization. Things can either go back to normal, which some people are not yet okay with. So we are living in a new normal, but realistically what could happen in the future. All people always hope that the virus will be gone forever and everyone can do whatever they want anywhere.    Or, the opposite end of the spectrum is we're gonna have another lockdown or something in the middle. So everything could happen, and you've got to have a plan for every scenario. Besides that, Tom would argue that try to create a plan that will work regardless of what happens. So if we get locked down next week, are you prepared? If not, how are you supposed to prepare? Well, you're supposed to prepare by preparing yourself.    Tom added that in terms of the virus and lockdowns and not being able to go into brick-and-mortar places, it's already happened. We know how it's going to be dealt with. So prepare for it and have a plan for it so that you should not be surprised by anything that happens moving forward over the next couple of years.    The Bottomline Tom said that if you live in New York City, you can probably walk down the street and meet up with a group of entrepreneurs. It doesn't work that way for everyone. Some people live in remote areas. Some people even have second homes, and you can't commit to 12 in-person meetings in the same city in a year for a wide range of reasons. So Tom believes that their model has created a lot more access to people than in the previous years.   From a marketing standpoint, the businesses that nail that help so much because they're able to convert more of those inbound leads into interested people. They're able to close more deals if you can really get granular on who you serve, why you serve them, how you serve them, and really why the business exists in the first place.   So for those who want to join a group or build a new group, you have to visit growth10.com. That’s the starting point for checking out the process and various opportunities waiting for you and your business.

Find Out What is Certified Roger Wilson-Crane and Dan Altmire   02:29 The First Book that Roger Wilson-Crane has Written04:22 What Made Wilson Decide to Write the Book?08:13 What was the Impetus for Wilson to Make the Book Happen? 10:04 The Book Masterclass and the Facebook Group14:09 The Setting Where the Story of the Book Took Place 18:03 Why Did Roger Choose Three Specific Events to Focus on His Book?20:04 How Did the Idea of the Book Cover Come Up?26:14 The Process of Writing the Book31:31 The Story Behind the Dog in the Book38:58 A Little Sample Reading from the Book 48:49  What Does Roger Perceive as the Changes in the Future?

In today’s episode, we are going to have the privilege of having David Rodgers in our show. He is the United States controller of the largest hospitality company in the United Kingdom. He's going to share with us some great insights, both on a business and personal basis, in dealing with the changes that we've all gone through over the last 18 months. So thanks for tuning in, and let's get this show on the road. How Did You Cope With the Pandemic? In March 2020, it started with the UK government saying to the general public to stay away from environments that involved indoor mixing, including hospitality and leisure. Within the week, David and his team were literally told to close overnight. It was Friday when they were told at five o'clock, that was the last day of trading. So literally, the clubs, hotels, and restaurants in the UK closed overnight. They then went into what they call regional lockdowns.   Fortunately, they were allowed to reopen under restriction on the fourth of July. They've seen across the world the trajectory of the virus that changes very dramatically. They then went into a complete lockdown for a month, just before Christmas. They're then allowed to reopen for about three days after Christmas and then went into a complete lockdown, again as a country for hospitality and several industries on New Year's eve.    They weren't allowed to open again until the twelfth of April. Then, they've recently opened the doors on the seventeenth of May, and they're hoping fingers crossed that on the twenty-first of June, they're able to open without any restrictions on people mixing the number of households that can come and eat and drink with them. So it's been a very challenging 18 months for them.   As a result, the UK government had to come up with a sort of financial support package.  It took a couple of weeks for them to tell the public to close. There were probably 11,000 people who weren't really sure what would be happening with their jobs. So they tried to manage that until they could provide people with their outreach wages for the period of closure.   There was obviously the business that still needed to run even though the pubs weren't open. It's been very challenging for the business owners because they've gone from seeing people on a daily basis, whether it’s the support center or the head office. They then quickly had to come up with different ways to communicate with different groups of employees. It’s because they had people who were working all the way through. They had people who were furloughed and weren't able to be contacted to be back to work.    From that point of view, they’d be quite challenging for them. They quickly realized that the employees being, whether it be financial, physical, emotional, have to be prepared to be put high on the agenda. So that's what they really focused on, creating an environment for them to feel they were still part of an organization when they weren't physically at work. What Did You Do to Make Your Employees Feel They're Part of the Organization? The first thing they did was communicate with them regularly. David made it organized by doing it virtually, like Zoom, through chat, and they even did some charitable fundraising activity. It just helps people. They help people in the sense that you're off work for three months, and someone's going to pay you.  But, at some point, they really want to keep themselves busy.    So they were helping people understand what volunteering opportunities there were for them, whether it’d be helping the NHS and the supermarkets who were struggling to keep up with demand on online deliveries. People didn't want to go and visit the supermarkets or wherever, so they tried to do a lot for the team to work to help them get through this tough situation. Food Delivery and Online Groceries During the Lockdown They were already doing a little bit of taking away and delivery prior to this, but it wasn't particularly a strong sales stream for them. As they went into lockdown, it became apparent that a lot of people were looking for delivery and takeout opportunities. So it's something they've got Uber Eats delivery. They're in the UK, so they could use them as partners to develop those offers.    Then, many of the foods would have spoiled if they just left it sitting in freezers and fridges. So they ended up donating the food to local food banks and for the local charities. Obviously, it's close to the company's heart in terms of looking after people within the communities they operate in. How Do You Handle Your Other Bills? For anybody watching in the UK, they'll know that David, although they're a pub and restaurant company, now did have a brewing business that they entered into a joint venture with Carlsberg. One of the world's largest brewers.   That gave them a cash injection into the business, which meant they could continue to pay their landlords. It's because many landlords were also waiting for bills to get paid. So David had to pay for his rent abatement, which has been extended till the end of the year.    David said that they were lucky in that aspect that they were able to stem, not all of it, but there's a huge part of the cash flow that they get out of the businesses since they were still closed. So, they, in some respects, have been lucky in the timing of the cash inflow into the business. But, they’ve announced their results, which anybody can see online if they want to. Besides that, they still had to go to get waivers from the banks for some of the loans that they've already got since they're not generating enough cash at the moment to hit the profit needed.  What Happened When You Opened Again? The first couple of weeks, they were only able to open outdoors. So the first couple of weeks were quite good. The weather was nice. It was reasonably pleasant sitting outside the pub. But, the third, fourth, and fifth week, before we could open inside, the weather became a little more inclement.   They did see a lot of people with scarves and gloves nursing a pint of beer outside. They'd be loving British pubs on any occasion. They were just thankful they could open up the business to bring people back. But it’s quite interesting that there's a little bit of craziness of being locked down, and people want to get back out to the pub.   However, it also affected their teams because they weren't used to obviously being that busy due to being locked down for so long. There have also been many challenges around resourcing of people who have gone off and found other jobs elsewhere and decided not to come back into the hospitality industry. Having reduced teams means working more hours, which puts added pressure on their physical and mental well-being.  They're almost coming at it now, again, back with focusing on what we can do to help them understand what support there is around them and how to look after themselves is hugely important at this time.   They've spent a lot of time training the team and getting them to understand the rules. Also, they've got to operate in helping them understand the technology they've introduced to allow them to use it. It includes table bookings for specific lengths of time and operation in different service cycles within their businesses. They've also introduced table service in almost every single interval of every single business to try and alleviate that risk of people mixing at bars while ordering drinks or food.    Besides that, David knows how to communicate with their teams a lot better. They now have new communication platforms, new training apps, and the like. It makes it a little bit more accessible for everybody so that they can get people up to speed as quickly as they need them to be. It’s a positive thing when they adopt technology that has significantly helped them accelerate their work and boost efficiency. They have to make sure they're able to support their guests to get the best experience. It also allows their teams to enjoy their time on the job as well. How Did Technology Help You and Your Business During the Pandemic?  The new training app that they've launched has been an immense help in the business. These employees in the pub can be trained quickly, instantly, and almost instantaneously. So it really appeals to the age group of 16 to 34 years old. That's stepped it on the level, but because the regulations have been changing so often. That’s when they’ve been able to do right all the time.    Besides that, they've been able to cascade any necessary update or information very quickly. Anything around the training really helped the team because that empowers these employees to support the guests and get the experience they want in the pubs. Hence, they have to train the teams to understand the different ways of taking orders and other approaches, like greeting the guests and talking to them about how they can place and take their orders. In fact, the app they have allows them to order and pay at the table. David and his teams will approach the customers to take their orders digitally, like on a tablet, and they’ll pay using credit or debit cards. That’s why without technology, it can be so challenging for them.  Where Do You See The Current Trends Taking Us?  Since many people have been doing things differently for so long, their habits might have been changed. There'll be a lot of guests who might want to go back to order at the bar or traditional table service. But others will adopt the technology as the normal sort of way of doing business. Besides that, the use of technology will also enhance their experience even more.    Moreover, there's also a fine balance between still having the hospitable nature of being greeted and seated versus being able to do it all yourself. Hence, it's not about being as fast and as efficient as possible if you are going to do your grocery and shopping every week, for example.  “Fuelled Fit and Fired Up” The book of David is about him sharing some of the things he's tried to do on a personal level to give himself some stability in his life and recognize that people have to try and look after themselves first before they can start helping others. It also talks about how you feel physically that sometimes you need rest and recuperation. It's about breathing, sleeping, and it's about how you clear your mind at the end of the day.   How you fuel up yourself both personally and professionally. It’s because you also need to think about the well-being of your teams at work or in your business. It's been important for you to ensure that you are getting the work and life balance, making you perform at the top of your game. You don't have to be perfect all the time.    It's not about looking perfect on Instagram. It's okay to have a chocolate bar or have a glass of beer sometimes. But, again, it's just about making sure that you have a balance in whatever you do in life. You may all know that there are people who never get infected with the virus, but many gained the COVID19 pounds.    Moreover, David started writing his book, “Fuelled Fit and Fired Up," a few months before the pandemic began. It was when he came to realize that being fit and healthy is so important. It’s because he wasn’t physically fit then, and potentially, he was not also healthy in some aspects of his life. That’s why you have to think about what you're eating every day and take a different approach to your overall health and well-being.   It's about building habits for the future. The past is the past. You can't change what you ate five years ago. Now, what you can do is start building habits that you maintain for the rest of your life so that you can be a way better.    The book is now available on Amazon, and people from the US, UK, and other countries can make orders online. Ebook and paperback forms of the book are also available, depending on your preference. What’s The Importance of Living Healthily?  I do remember them saying that the people who were dying from COVID, more than less of them had suffered from obesity, and others were smokers. So I think it makes you more and more resilient to respond to outside forces coming in on you that you can get from the habits you can build from this book.    David said it's about building it up and finding something that you enjoy. It’s because if you enjoy it, you're more likely to stick with it. But you found something that fits into your lifestyle that you can continue doing. And, to him, one of the biggest things about forming new habits is finding something you enjoy. You could be walking, running, cycling, and you could also hit training. It could be whatever it is. Just do something you enjoy, and do it more than you used to.    Thirty minutes that you're out walking in the morning could make a big difference and might significantly save you from spending your time in a hospital bed if you’re not forming good and healthy habits and lifestyles. Like what David shared with me, it doesn't matter how fast you run. It's still quicker than the people sitting on the couch. So anything you’re doing now will have a significant impact on you in the future. The Bottomline When you look after your overall health and well-being, you'll surely have more years to spend with your loved ones and more time running your business. Hence, if you're a business owner or an entrepreneur, your employees will make a difference for you and your brand. So make sure you support them all the way no matter what challenges they're facing today, especially during the pandemic. Whether you're in the UK or the US, we've all got different business challenges, and it will be the people who get through them.   It doesn't matter whether you're in the manufacturing or hospitality industry. It's the people that make a difference, and it's them who will push your business forward. So the business leaders need to remember and focus on that as we get through the pandemic.   Keep in mind that having a healthy balance as a business owner and an individual is so important. So if anything like this ever happens again, that you can draw on the experience and make new habits, you can be successful in the new normal and even get through it.

Today, our special guest is an international speaker, customer service expert, best-selling author, and coach, Michael Heppel. I've had the pleasure of knowing Michael Heppel now for over a year, doing some work with him, learning from him, and growing with him. So I wanted to share him with my audience and talk to him about the new normal and some really cool things that he's got coming up. So let's not waste any more time and move on to Michael Heppel. The Success Story of Michael Heppel Michael had a thriving business as a speaker, working with business owners, traveling and making speeches, and working with businesses on site. However, it changed rapidly. In 2019, which feels like a long time, he was away from home. He’s very fortunate. He’s traveled with his wife. She does all my event production, and she also co-writes with him and coaches him. His wife does lots of great stuff.    Michael got to that Christmas that year, and his wife said, “Sweetie, please, promise me that we can travel less next year.” And he answered, “Christine,  I put my hand on my heart. We will travel less in 2020.” It happened. They traveled less in 2020, but it was because the COVID19 pandemic started that year.    The challenge was he made his living by standing on stage in front of people and doing live training events and the like. So he never thought he was just going to sit and twiddle his thumbs. So it has become his new normal to be in his room. And Michael thought, if he’s going to present there, he would like to be done on Zoom, he’s going to be really good at it.    Then, he learned a lot of techniques. He bought a kit and the latest technology for playing sound and music and tried to replicate what he did as much as possible. Besides that, he also started a group in January. He didn't even think that it would take off at all, called “How to Be Brilliant.” He got over 3000 members, and it became this real beacon of positivity. People were saying, “You know, this is the place to go.” Everybody's supportive, and they're encouraging, and there's hope. People aren't moaning and groaning about what’s going on.    He really threw himself in. He answered every single comment as much as he could. But he made a big mistake. He forgot to fit his own mask. So he was doing it for everybody else. Then, suddenly after about two months, he had a bit of a wobble. It was because he was exhausted, spending time just in front of a screen just commenting and doing stuff and doing lives.    He was doing lots of live stuff, and he thought he needed a little break from it. Maybe, he should create a pop-up group and do something a bit different that will entertain himself and the people in the group. So he sent out one of those Google forms. He just sent it out to 1 to 25 people and said, “What would you like to know more about?” So he received three suggestions.    One was time management. Michael wrote a book called “How to Save an Hour Every Day,” teaching how to save time. The second was customer service. He’s the UK best-selling author for customer service books, and he then sold a lot of copies across the country. The same thing goes for “How the Best Get Better,” which talks about the idea of constant improvement.    Then, just at the last minute, he wrote: “How to Write a Book.” He sent it out, and 75% of people came back, and it ticked, “I want to know how to write the book.” So he created a pop-up group called “Write that book.” After that, 444 people joined, and they did a masterclass, and 75 people joined that. It was just the most incredible thing to do in spring last year.    So many people have gone on to publish their books. They got 30 published now and over 60 in the pipeline. He has been talking to some of those authors who will be on that course, and it’s the best feeling ever for Michael.    After that, his wife, Christine, encouraged him to write a book because he hadn't written anything for about six years. Hence, Michael came up with this idea and wrote the book “17.” He wrote it in 17 days and sold copies after three days. Then, he had 17 minutes of interviews. He also has massive action projects where they take things and take it up to the next level and get stuff over the line. They have groups who come together and do stream 17.    Every month, there are three different streams happening, and they're real specialist subjects in different areas. So they do all of that. The brilliant thing with this, of course, is when they bring these communities together, people like yourself get involved. So it becomes a combination of lots of people all wanting to share and all wanting to help each other, and that's the real beauty of it. If you've got one person who wants to take stuff. Get two people who want to take stuff, and it becomes a bit more difficult. If you have 100 people who won't want to take stuff, it doesn't work. If you've got 100 people who all want to give, now you've got 100, multiplied by 100, multiply by 100, multiply 100. And that's what makes a massive difference. The Power of Relationships It’s the power of having groups of people and the power of the relationships that have been built beyond just the meetings. During the pandemic, especially when people were locked down real hard, it was an outlet that people had. It’s because they didn't have anywhere else. It was more like a family meeting of a hundred people on a Zoom. Everybody got to know each other, and it was a brilliant process.   That’s the idea of Michael. Why would you want to do a good drill when you can just do that little bit more, and you can even make it brilliant. That's what Micheal always wants to do. He always wants to make things brilliant, wherever possible.    For those who want to be a member of “17”, they can do so. You only need to contact Michael Heppel through his socials and his official website: michaelheppel.com/team17. The team is nearly full, but they can still fill in the remaining available slot if someone gets interested in joining in. Besides that, Michael continues to do coaching in his team via Zoom now. He’s doing it with three people at a time so that he can focus on them well and achieve his objectives in every meeting he handles.  Plans on Writing Another Book Michael said that the last book he wrote happened almost by accident, the next book he will be writing would be much better. So they started one in the autumn. One of the things that they do with “Write the Book” is that they have a group called the masters. These are the best possible people at the top of their game in the world of writing and publishing. They then interviewed Rory Scarfe. He's the head of the agency for the Blair Partnership, and the Blair partnership represents JK Rowling. His expertise has just been absolutely amazing. Where Do You See Your Business Going Beyond 2021?  Michael said that they wouldn't take any events until September. So they're not doing any speaking work until then. That was quite deliberate because people were booking stuff and then canceling and booking and canceling until this whole thing gets itself sorted out.    The other thing is the idea of, “Oh, well, we'll do an event, and we're going to have 300 in the room. But now we're gonna have 50 in the room, and they're all going to be spaced out.” For a speaker, that's hard work. So they have to develop new ways to present their rise to the challenge. They'll make it work.    They are taking bookings now from September onwards. So that's interesting to see what's going to be happening with that. They also think they will travel less for work because Michael really enjoyed spending time at home.   They live in the north of England, a place called Northumberland. He hadn't realized quite how beautiful the place was until he had to spend a whole year there, looking at that window every day. In fact, just right from his front door, he’s setting the dairy. It was a farmhouse and used to be the dairy where they bottled milk. So he’s really enjoying being at home.    Michael also thinks what's going to happen is that a lot of hybrid stuff is going to be happening more and more where there will be a mixture of people going into the event, some people being beamed into the event. Some people being there live at the event, and other people from the organization watching on video feeds. So that's a new challenge. It's quite exciting. There's a couple of really big events which are going to be happening in 2022. So he’s looking forward to that, looking forward to walking on stage with bright lights and a big crowd because that's probably what he was born to do.  What’s the Next Plan Right Away? Michael will be writing the book because they have a free pop-up starting. It's gonna open on the 1st of June. So a lot of fun and excitement is happening. Then, they have the challenge, which takes place on the seventh. They’ll teach people everything during that challenge, from developing ideas to creating how to write. So people want to read a whole bunch of stuff that is going to happen then. And then they’ll launch the next master class on the 14th of June.    Michael had one person who joined a couple of days ago, and she said, “I'm not quite sure what's going to be the right thing for me.” “So, what are you writing?” “So it's a fiction book.” He said, “All right. Okay, what is it?” And she said, “Well, it's basically an erotic fiction for the older generation.” “Really?” She goes, “Yeah, think of 50 shades but 50 plus.”   Michael then asked, “Have you got any idea how you're going to sell it?” She went, “Yeah, I've already sorted it out. I'm going to partner up with SAGA.” But, if you have SAGA in the US, it’s an organization that does holidays, insurance, all that type of stuff. It’s only for people who are 55 plus. That's the only age group that they work with.    So she's already looking at her target audience and how she's going to market to them. Michael then said, “You don't need to write that book.” She said, “I do. I just want to learn. And, if I can share ideas, I want to do that as well.” What a Facebook Pop-Up Group is? The Facebook pop-up is only going to be there for two weeks. So you join, you do something, it closes. That's what's going to happen. So this real sense of they're all moving towards something. Michale loves the fact that some people come along, and they go, “Oh, I'm going to write a business book on such and such.” And by the end of the week, they're writing a children's book. Because that's their real passion, and you've got to find your passion.    There's no point in writing a book on what you think you should do. You've got to write a book on what you must do because it's in there. That's the secret.   Last year, Michael had this pop-up when Dan participated among 200 people. There were 150 people posting their writing samples. Other people could make their suggestions and critiques. Dan found it so inspirational because, in effect, it was a mini masterclass with 200 instructors. It was brilliant. In fact, some of the ideas were absolutely fantastic. It’s great to see how people start off with one original idea and share it with other people.  The Bottomline The classic thing always in life is if it's important to you, become dissatisfied with doing a good job in that area and choose to be brilliant. Always remember that the most important thing in your life, you are not born to be mediocre. You were born to be great, so embrace your destiny.

In today’s episode of our New Normal Chronicles, we have our first guest, the amazing JR Arsenault. He has a varied background that we're going to talk about. We're also going to focus on what JR is doing now while adjusting his opportunities to the new normal setup worldwide.  JR’s Background His parents moved from a garden spot, Southern Connecticut. It’s between New Haven and New London. They lived in a couple of towns there, Guilford and Clinton, and ended up in Guilford, a historic town. It's a wonderful place.   JR didn't have a musical appreciation until he hit the southern shoreline around people and wonderful music instructors. He has been married twice, and both of his wives had very strong musical backgrounds. JR said that if you don't have music in your life, you don't have much of a life. But he has been very fortunate to have a broad background in music. Even today, many of the local bands, they're good friends of his.    In the 80s, he was doing some promotional photography for bands. Back then, they had fan clubs, and they’d need Ektachrome slides to make an inner negative so that they could shoot slides, and then they make a larger, inner negative. Then, they can do everything with that. That was the way that you'd get quality on the road, and it was like a cheap trick.    Then, he went to Rochester, the cradle of photographic civilization and the center of most technology. Even when he was in school, they had a connection with Eastman Kodak. Of course, RIT is the finest School of Imaging Science in the universe. At the time, he got involved with some of the projects. They were doing Digital Photography back when he was a young lad.    According to JR, you have to hang out with great people and surround yourself with great people and great books. When you gain a lot of learning, you can apply it to your life and use it to face your future. Besides that, learn from your mistakes. So the more mistakes you make early, the better off you are later.    Moreover, when JR graduated from RIT, he was first in his class, but he couldn't get a job. So then, he started to try to sell pictures in a recession in Kodak town. However, the first year was not good, but it was when he learned a lot about how not to market and things that he shouldn't do and putting all his eggs in different baskets. After that, JR got smarter, but he might also consider himself desperate. It’s because he didn’t have any alternatives at the time.    Then, JR came up with the idea of preschool photography in his area. Fortunately, there’s a lot of money coming in, and he even went from zero to 18 states in less than 18 months and 30 states in less than 24 months. The growth was so amazing. But JR didn’t expect that much success. So, what he did was sabotaging and trying to reduce it down to a level he was comfortable with rather than adjusting for a maximum. It was an exciting thing when he finally realized he was self-sabotaging.    After a few years, JR decided to move to Charlotte to continue his photography career. He did it and took a hit, but he kept on missing his family and friends. But he created something new, and it was a profound thing. JR even said that, in order to get something new, you need to release your hands to have two hands to get.   He also added that because we've all been destined for greatness, there's a unique thing that the creator put us down here to do. You need to find out what it is, and you need to not worry about what other people think. In fact, it happened to JR before. Because he wanted to become a manager of a large photographic operation, he tried his best, and he became one. He ran a company that earned millions of dollars a year.    However, as years went by, JR found it no fun at all. It was paying him nicely, but he wasn’t enjoying it anymore. So he decided to quit and find something else that he truly deserved. Then, JR realized that he just turned 40 at the time, and he thought that he had to do something. Because of that, he decided to get into finance and mortgages. During the 90s, these were some of the industries that were successful in the market. So it was the world of JR for many years, but he came to the point when he decided again to go back to his first love, which is photography.    It's when you know what to do and when you've got the equipment and the ability, not so much camera ability, but the ability to go out there and hustle. However, this time, JR wanted to pick people he wanted to work with. He then had his customer list and sent them out with the emails and videos. He always then felt amazing when people opened and watched the videos he sent. For him, it’s priceless!  There’s More Important Than Your SKills I just finished the last two and a half years. I was the volunteer president of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors in the Greater Washington DC area. But, then, throughout my 35-year financial services career, I have met a fantastic number of amazingly talented people in that field. But a lot of those people aren't making any money. So the reason they're not making any money is not that they're not talented. It's not because they're not ethical or not good.    They're not making money to make a living because they don't have anybody to talk to. So marketing is so key, and I really think that you really hit the nail on the head. It's great to have the skills. But more important than the skills you have to have somebody else putting people in front of you. Or, you have to do it yourself.    Now, I know when you are in 18 states, you are with the preschools. You had other people taking the pictures, and you had other people setting up those arrangements. I'm sure of that for that much volume. But the key thing is somebody has to do that. If nobody comes to the play, then you know it's practice. The 3200 Email Responses JR bought a list with 50,000 names from coast to coast of everybody that had a daycare license. He sent a three-piece mail. One was the envelope, a folded note, and a BRC, Business Reply Card. He thought he’d only get a couple of 100 or 200 responses because he never did that before. Well, the problem was he had almost 3200 responses.    So he eliminated a lot of states and got it down to about 1000. JR then connected everybody, but he got overwhelmed with the overload. So he went through his failure cycle, and he still earned money from it. He then learned from his lessons, so he was set for the next year, and he got the right people in place. How Did JR Get Affected When Transitioning Into this COVID World? Digital photography changed things because it's possible to make mediocre pictures, letting the camera do all the brain work for you. Because you haven't learned and don't know what you're doing, there's a little arrow in the word front underneath the camera to remind you, in case you get confused.    The thing about it is that we have a variety of things, like what JR has been doing in the recent past. But when things stop, and when JR stopped creating lovely stuff because everybody's got COVID. Photography was dead in the water. He even had clients that he built up catalog photography who paid very nice.    However, they didn't postpone it. They canceled it. And it's still canceled a year later. So what you do is you learn a new trick. The new trick is exactly what JR and I and several of our fantastic new friends are doing. We've learned how to do this, and with varying degrees.   Because right now, JR wants to do production with me, so he wants to create new amazing different things. To do that, you have to let go of what you had before and learn new techniques. So then, JR and I have learned that, and we're doing new things now using the ability to build on what we knew before. So he’s now doing photography, production like this, and publishing journals.  What is PPP? The three P's are photography, production, and publishing. Being a producer of shows like this, you have to get your name out. Then, getting your name out regularly is how people call you if they don't know you. If they don't see your beautiful work, they don't know you’re there. On the other hand, publishing is going to be coloring books but focused coloring books for corporate and things along those lines that JR is developing. In using his photography skills and production to get to that end, everything feeds everything. It's kind of a symbiotic, operable nature, where the three pieces are working with each other.    Moreover, JR will be producing my New Normal Chronicles, and he will also be starting his Go Live Sherpa. It’s streaming video production. What he can do is have up to 10 people on one screen in one format. JR will interview these people, have lovely photos, and have people or the audience commenting. In fact, if you want to contact JR, you can get in touch with him via email: jrarsenault@gmail.com.  Takeaway Everybody has to deal with changes. The difference now is that change comes so fast. It’s true that most of us have been hit by that dramatic change over the last 12 to 15 months. There's some value to that. We can add value, both from our own expertise but also from other people. That’s why what we're trying to do with the New Normal Chronicles is to bring successful people to the forefront so that those who can see what's working and how people have gone from where they were will find the current new path for success.    However, the pandemic may make you either find the cheese or you starve. It’s a situation that a lot of people find themselves in today. But we are thriving because we've moved on, and we're having fun right now in the COVID. Besides that, it's also wonderful because it's taking me to places that I've never thought I would be. JR said that he wasn't in front of a camera talking to people. He was behind the camera. He was selling employment benefits, but now, he’s helping people.    In addition, life happens, and then you have another opportunity to overcome something else. So you always need to be looking for what is really your destiny, and it may be in one place today. But, then, next year is doing something different, and the next will lead you to your ultimate destiny. So that's what we all have to do is find what our destiny is. But you can't do that while you’re sitting down on a couch. Your only way to do it is by being active and looking for it. It's the only way the message gets out. And I want to leave you with one last piece of advice: everybody has a destiny. Hence, you need to embrace your destiny.