Video of the Week - The Ugly Barnacle
August 23, 2009
Ok so stories aren’t always uplifting and helpful! Sometimes they’re downright unhelpful as is the case with this adorable little member of the animal kingdom, the barnacle.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A0F2C10D55A7AC16video
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The Barnacle Story - “You Can Be Yourself”
August 23, 2009
A few weeks ago, I did a Webinar on Storytelling and social media. Afterwards I got this lovely note from one of my listener’s Brian Johnston who wrote to say that something I said was really an awakening for him.
“Annie, you said something in your webinar today that was a spiritual moment for me. You said, “Be yourself and people who don’t like your stuff, product or services will go away.” I love that! I have spent too much time in business trying to connect with people who are not interested in me . My personality ever since I was a child has been black or white and I tried not to piss people off but then found myself very unhappy. At this point, I am DONE with that and things are working out pretty darned good. I realize that I am here to serve my creator, my wife and my kids. Plain and simple.”
I love this. So Brian’s comment along with my own personal love of this topic, spurred me to write this story of the week about daring to be yourself. Thank you Brian.
Year’s ago I read a story by Richard Bach called Illusions and his little tale of a barnacle on a rock, always stuck in my mind. I no longer have the book or remember the story exactly, so I’m going to make up one of my own.
“The Barnacle Story” - take a risk and jump off the rock
Once upon a time in a far off land, there was a colony of barnacles that lived happily and peacefully together on The Rock.
They had always lived this way and they always would. It was the ancient way of their barnacle ancestors and nothing was ever expected to change about this. That was until the one ‘rogue’ barnacle decided that he was bored and needed a change.
Some say that in every time and every era, there is always ONE who dares to do things differently. This outlandish barnacle took the risk to ask himself, what else is there besides this rock? This is in itself a very dangerous question since any time you think outside of the status quo, you risk being disenfranchised from the world around you. And this is exactly what happened to our dear little barnacle.
One day he woke up and said I’m tired of living on this rock and just being like everyone else, never daring to do anything differently or taking any risks. Life is safe here but so what?
You see the legends of the barnacles passed down from generations, told horrible tales of barnacles that tried to leave the rock behind and swim out on their own. Especially since barnacles don’t have fins and really can’t swim, this seemed especially dangerous right? Right.
But our beloved barnacle did it anyway. There comes a moment, maybe only once in your life when you have to take a risk and jump off the rock.
So he held his nose (yes I know barnacles don’t really have noses), but he held his sort-of-nose and jumped, right into the fast moving current., Yikes!
And for awhile he was bashed about by the rapidly rushing current. As he was watching his ancient rock fade quickly behind him, he began to doubt his foolishness. Did I do the right thing?
This too is an inevitable moment in the life of an adventurer. We finally get up the nerve to take the risk and then we doubt ourselves. This is the moment when we need all of our buddies and allies to surround us with support. So luckily for our little barnacle, this is exactly what happened.
Just then a big powerful snake came swimming by. Yes I know, there really aren’t snakes in the ocean, but at that time there were ok? So this snake swimming by paused long enough to shout, Don’t stop little barnacle. Just keep going….and let go.
Those were the magic words - let go….and he did.
He rolled over on his little barnacle back and allowed himself to float and instead of fighting the current, he allowed himself to be carried by it. Ah, what a difference that made!
And eventually my friends, our beloved barnacle arrived on the shores of a new land, safe and sound. And he made new friends including a starfish, an eel and a porcupine sea urchin, which he never would have done if he’d stayed on the rock!
He was happy in his new land.
And the moral of this story is clearly, “Take a risk and jump off the rock!”
Thanks to Brian and the beloved barnacles of the world for generating this story.
Ask yourself today, ‘Where do I need to take a risk in my life? What rock do I need to jump off of?’ And let me know what happens ok?
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Outstanding Business Success, Creating a Rogue Monkey Culture
August 20, 2009
If you happened to read the “Plus Ultra“ story a few months ago, you might remember that a business man from Japan, wrote me to say that he’d had great success motivating his team by using that story. Wonderful!
When he mentioned a current problem he was having, I told him that I had another story he could use called, “The Rogue Monkey.“ He went ahead and read the story, then used it to motivate his team. But more than that, he actually created the beginning of a Rogue Monkey Culture. He used a story once again to lead his team to great success. This is an amazing example of the power of story to change corporate culture. Here is his letter:
Annie, I have had great success with the Rogue Monkey story. One of my American colleagues here in Tokyo, organized a brainstorming session with the other American partners to come up with ideas to improve the “operational effectiveness” of certain functions that we perform in the office.
He asked us to send him our ideas before the meeting so that he could summarize them and use them to jump start the discussion. Since this is an area where I have much experience, I prepared a Powerpoint summarizing my suggestions. But because I knew that some of my colleagues might react negatively to my suggestions, e.g, tried that before, won’t work here etc.,I began the presentation with the Rogue Monkey story.
It has a very positive impact on the group. They all liked the story. There was almost no criticism of my suggestions and most of the discussion was focused on how to implement them. In fact, the term “rogue monkey” was used as a collective term to describe my suggestions, as in “Ok, let’s take the top five priorities ouf of Rogue Monkey and focus on how to implement.”
In follow-up discussions after the meeting, the group used the term rogue monkey as a sort of shorthand to refer to the results of the meeting as in “What are the next steps for the rogue monkey?” which we all understand to mean - how are we moving forward on implementing the operational effectiveness?
Outside of the meeting, on matters unrelated to the brainstorming session, I have heard my colleagues say, “Hey you don’t sound much like a rogue monkey”, meaning have an open mind. I heard one person refer to another’s attitude by saying, “I think he was sprayed with water once to often,” meaning that he does not want to take any chances.
So the term has entered our corporate culture with the American partner group.
So thank you Annie for the story. It worked for me!
Annie’s note: Wonderful example of the power of story.
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Corey’s Story Adventure, A Plan Comes Together
August 17, 2009
Another great call with Annie Hart this morning. This past week, I had one of my favorite writers draw up a small section of the screenplay version of my story. It was fascinating to read my thoughts in someone else’s voice. Some of it worked well, some of it didn’t, as could be expected. Weighing various components, I talked with Annie about taking a different direction and trying another writer that I enjoy working with for different reasons.
When Annie and I started discussing this direction, I revealed that an inspiring process and trust in my partners were two ingredients absolutely necessary to this project, both of which I feel with Katie Gutierrez Painter. I’ve worked with Katie on two other books and her combination of creativity and professionalism have always inspired me. She thinks very similarly to how I do, but has much more patience for the writing side of the equation than myself. I would say that Katie is a businessperson and artist with an emphasis on the art and I am the same with the emphasis on business.
When Annie and I further discussed what this exploration might look like, I started thinking about a book. If you recall, the original intention in working with Annie was to create a dynamic, performance oriented keynote speech that came from my own life experiences as an actor, filmmaker, author and businessman. The idea of a book is so key because, as I have taught and learned from my authors, a book can be inexpensively delivered to people for feedback. A screenplay or a play must be produced. A presentation even requires “permission” in that you need to get hired to give it. A book, however, can be formatted and printed and delivered to inspire people without needing permission, a huge production, or a huge investment. If the book works, then investment in all of those other areas becomes justified. 
In the game of chess I have been playing as a businessman over the last 12 years, I told Annie that this move of writing a book was me “pulling out my queen.” I know it’s geek speak, but in chess, the queen is traditionally kept back until the rest of the board is well developed. I have tested my theories. I have built successful brands for my clients. I have the platform, the direct experience, and now the team behind me to make this work. Now is the right time to do this for myself.
My next step is to deliver Katie the materials she needs to get caught up to speed. Then to speak with her on the phone for a while and answer her questions. I’ll see what inspires her and then we’ll create an initial action plan to test if this relationship will work as I believe it will.
At the end of my call with Annie, we discussed the storytelling process. We’re going to be on a radio show together in September and we’re excited to discuss our unique approach to building this. In the past, I have been very aggressive with my clients, often telling them what the next steps are and pushing them along. Annie is very different in how she leads me. She has given me a lot of breathing room for the process to unfold and determine its own path and that is teaching me some wonderful new tools I can use in my own business.
I’ve known for a long time that if I set up the environment where I am forced to show up regularly (weekly for Annie and me), then progress will be made. Indeed it is.
Let’s get to work!
Annie’s Notes: Corey and I are having so much fun. Well I shouldn’t speak for Corey, but I’m having fun working with him. He gets it! That the creative process itself is just that, a process that one must be creative with. It’s a leap of giant faith. You make a goal, you head in that direction, but then you must use your creative mind to follow the twists and turns that the process entails. Corey is following his inner instinct and I already feel certain that we are going to come up with something amazing. And that he will create an artistic piece or product that is of great value to others. Woo-hoo!
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So Why Tell Stories, rather than just blather on in plain ordinary language?
August 11, 2009
So why should we tell stories rather than speak in plain old ordinary language? For many reasons. First of all because telling stories is more fun and we should always have fun when we’re speaking.
This post is dedicated to my new friend Jeannette Paladino, Writer in Chief at “Write, Speak, Sell.” Jeannette is a leader in helping business people to create clear and powerful communication. We share the love of storytelling and its power to communicate, so Jeannette asked me to write on the topic for her blog.
Storytelling is the oldest and most powerful form of communication on the planet. It completely bypasses the rational conscious mind and goes directly into our unconscious, which is the meaning maker of our mind.
This means that stories go in more easily and are more enduring than ordinary communication. If you want to have power in your message, you really need to tell a story.
And here is the good news. The story itself is not nearly as important as the way it is delivered. Believe it or not, that is really true. Yes it’s a good idea to have a compelling story when you can, but the communication is only in 7% in the words. You can tell a very bad story and make it compelling and you can tell a very great story and make it very bad!
The power of the story is in the delivery. If it is a written story than the power of your word is stronger but when I’m writing stories, I try to think of the words as ‘word images’. That is how you bring the power of story to life.
Words by themselves are completely boring. They are just like flat pieces of cardboard with no color on them. To make a mosaic out of them you need to create colorful images in your reader or listener’s minds eye.
So I went out on the street the other day and as stepped out the door, I smelled the taste of roses in my mind.
Now what does that mean? Absolutely nothing. But notice that it created clear images in your mind. Your brain needed to visualize the step, the door, the smell, the taste and roses, all in one short sentence. This is the same way a great story is created, from inside of the memory banks of your mind.
And you can make it up! Alot of my stories are told off the cuff. Don’t be afraid of that. Be more afraid of boring people to death with your plain old ordinary language. Yes seriously, imagine that people will start keeling over right in front of you if you don’t stop boring them with your words!
We need to tell stories for many reasons but the most important of which is that you don’t want to be boring with your words.
Jeannette and I both know that the power of effective communication is essential in the business world. If you can’t communicate clearly, people will misunderstand and have a hard time following you. So especially for leaders this is essential.
Thank you Jeannette for being out there in the world helping others to speak powerfully. In honor of you, here are my top three reasons to tell stories:
- tell stories so that people will listen to what you have to say
- tell stories so that your message will be lasting
- tell stories so that you don’t bore people with your words
Most of all tell stories because they are the most fun and enjoyable way to communicate on the planet. That’s it, enough said. Now go tell a story.
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Corey’s Story Journey, Collaboration
August 10, 2009
So this week on my story adventure I felt way out of sorts and really bad that I have had little to no time to devote to my story. Annie and I brainstormed and came up with an exploratory solution. What I do with clients is to build a collaborative group around their books; usually the client is the expert, I am the storytelling guide and then I bring in a writer.
Annie’s Notes: One of the big things that I love about working with Corey is his ability to use his creative mind, to work the process. This is the way the creative journey goes. It is not a linear process! You set a goal of course but it rarely goes in a straight line towards what you want. So being flexbile enough to see new directions is part of our work together. Life gets in the way of what we want. I feel certain that if this direction doesn’t work for Corey for some reason, we will find another one. And all of this is rich food on the creative journey.
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Video of the Week: The Three Closets of Paris Hilton
August 10, 2009
You’re kidding me right? Paris, ou’re not really on Youtube showing me your three closets are you? Folks if you ever find me on Youtube showing off my closets, please shoot me. Put me out of your misery. This is ridiculous, what has this world come to?
Paris my suggestion for you darling is to have your daddy finance your own personal department store. Why just have a closet when you could have a whole city block for your own gaudy accoutrements? Let me know when you open it, I’ll be sure not go stop by. I’m still wishing for a simpler world Paris. Call me old fashioned but this just seems excessive. Oh, well, thanks for showing me your closet darling and good luck figuring out what to wear!
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Story of the Week, “The Age of the Fat Ass”
August 10, 2009
I apologize in advance for the look of this photo, but when you read the story below, you’ll know why I had to use it.
This Story of the Week is one of my favorites, because it’s from real life. It’s one of those stories that seems too real to be true. But I swear to god it is. Even my imagination isn’t as good as this.
People often ask me how I get people to tell me their stories. It’s very very easy. I just listen. That seems obvious but it isn’t. Most people don’t listen to strangers, let alone people they know. But I make it a practice to listen to people as deeply as I can. And that plus the luck of the Universe, make me a very good story catcher. People tell me stories everywhere I go, even in the most unlikely places.
Yesterday I was at Whole Foods doing some grocery shopping. Because I had brought my new mini pink laptop with me, I was seized by the urge to write, so I sat down at an outside table and began to craft a story. No sooner had I started to write, then an older woman came over and asked if she could sit in the chair next to me while she waited for her ride. There were plenty of other chairs around, but when she asked if she could sit near me I knew that it was a sign that she had a story to tell and she needed someone to listen.
She sat down. I stopped what I was doing and turned my attention to her. In less than a minute her story poured out.
“I’ve been really unhappy lately,” she said. I asked her why. ”We’re living in the time of the fat ass.”
What? I thought that I had heard her incorrectly. Did she just say FAT ASS??
I continued to listen and she went on….
“Women wear these tights and you can see their pantyline through them. I don’t know what they’re thinking. When I was growing up we were taught to be modest. I used to go right home from the store and tuck all my labels in. I don’t know how they think they look good like this. They don’t. I thought I was fat, but they’re really fat. It’s just terrible. Especially the young women, they really let it all hang out, no wonder they get attacked.” 
Oh my gosh, my mind was racing. What was I supposed to say to a story like this? I had no idea.
But then I remembered that the most important part of being a good story listener is about listening. It’s not what you say. When you can just let the story be heard, then the magic happens all by itself. I was quiet and she continued…..
“It wasn’t like this when I was growing up. I don’t know what this world is coming to. I don’t like it. That’s why I’m so unhappy. I don’t think I’ll be here much longer. I’m eighty-nine, you know.”
Just then her ride showed arrived. As she got up to leave, she turned to me, ”Sorry to have bothered you,” she said. “Nice talking to you.” And she then she was gone.
I was in shock. This was definitely one of the most unusual stories that I have ever been told. Why had she told me this story and what was I supposed to do with it? I looked down at my hands. They were still hovering over my pink keyboard, paused in mid-air. Write Annie, write.
I started to think about it. A person’s story is a very tender thing for them to share. We live in a world that is too busy, too fast. Especially the elderly, they feel like they can’t keep up. It is all whirling by. So the least that I can do as a caring human being in this world, is to listen and to record their stories in my mind. I try to listen everywhere I go as my small contribution to the healing of the world.
It may seem like a small thing, or nothing at all. But to listen to someone’s story can be a moment of healing for them. It sends the message that ‘You’re not alone in this.’ More than anything, we need that message in the world. As life goes by at such a fast pace, we feel more and more alone. With no one to talk to and we can become more and more distressed, as was obviously the case with this woman.
So as much as I was in shock by the message of this woman’s conversation, I was also very touched that she would share it with me and allow herself to receive even one moment of healing.
Later, I started to think about my own mother. She is eighty-nine as well and has been talking lately about nearing the end of her life. Maybe this woman showed up so that I’d listen to my own mother more closely. Who is listening to her stories?
Stories are precious. They are tender little pieces of our lives. Our listening is an active contribution to the healing of our world.
I’m going to go call my mother now. I need to listen to her stories for awhile. Maybe you should call your mother too and reassure her that fat asses or not, we’re all ok.
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21 Ways You Can Make Your Business Stronger
August 6, 2009
This is a wonderful useful post by my mentor Bea Fields who is the best in this area:
I personally believe that everyone needs a blog…it just makes sense from an SEO perspective to have great content filled with rich keywords.
But, as Professional Certified Coach and a member of the coaching industry, I believe that coaches have so much to offer and share with others, and a blog is a perfect mechanism for getting your message out and delivering ongoing value. At the end of the day, delivering a great message and adding value can make your business so much stronger.
So, if you are a coach, here are the 21 ways a blog can make your business stronger. Of course, these apply to anyone, but today, I am truly speaking to coaches:
1) A blog can serve as a storage site for the many articles you write. This can greatly enhance your expertise and build credibility.
2) With a great podcasting player, you can load ALL of your teleclasses straight into your blog. You can password protect your pages for teleclasses you sell and give the others away as freebies.
3) With Survey Gizmo, you can run free surveys and assessments on your blog.
4) With a blog, you can answer the most frequently asked questions about coaching.
5) Each time you are mentioned in the media, this information can be posted on your blog.
6) I have nothing against static websites, but unless you know Dreamweaver or Front Page, many coaches pay web designers to make tiny changes that end up costing thousands of dollars annually. With a blog, you have complete control over making updates to your pages without hiring a webmaster to do it. If you can type, you can write a blog post or create a blog page.
7) Many of the new blog templates (check out http://ithemes.com or http://studiopress.com ) offer templates that look JUST LIKE WEBSITES. You can build pages, add opt in boxes, add video, podcasts and the list goes on and on.
8. You can become known as an expert in your field. As a coach, when you become great with blogging, you can become a newsbreaker, spreading great news about the latest/greatest information in the coaching industry AND in the niche you represent.
9) News agencies and radio/television shows are more likely to pick up your story if you are consistently putting information out there (I know…it’s happened dozens of times for me.)
10) Your network will grow by leaps and bounds…and not just in the coaching industry but in multiple industries.
11) With a blog, you can post an events category, and each time a new event is coming, you can post it.
12) You can sell coaching, products and training straight from your blog. Yes…you can indeed add links to your blog to sell products and services.
13) Search engines love blogs, because they are so content rich. Your search engine ranking will go up the more you blog.
14) If there is a concern circulating around your business or the coaching industry, you can address this immediately by posting on your blog.
15) You can allow your true voice to be heard. As a coach, you have so much to say and offer, and most of this (I have found) goes unspoken. With a blog, you can talk from the heart about your passions, goals and vision.
16) You can use your blog to post all of your newsletters. With e-mail becoming more and more difficult to send and open, you can have a place on your blog just for your newsletters.
17) With a platform like Wordpress , a blog can be basically free. If you host the blog on your own domain, with a service like Hostgator.com, you pay about $9.00 per month to have a blog on your own domain.
18) You can use your blog to connect your message to over 30 social networks, including the 3 big guns: Twitter , Facebook and Linked In .
19) When you grow tired of the “look” of your blog or it becomes outdated, you simply update it by installing a new theme…you don’t have to go back to the drawing board with a brand new design, paying thousands of dollars for a new website.
20) You can use your blog as a forum by encouraging comments from others. The dialogue you create with others will enrich your life and the lives of your customers.
21) You can deliver ongoing value to the public every day of your life, and this is what coaches are so great with…delivering ongoing value!
At the end of the day, if the above 21 are happening, you WILL see your sales increase. It just happens, because at the end of the day, people want to hire a coach who knows what he/she is talking about and who is on the bleeding edge of business and technology.
If you are a coach (or a business owner) and you do not yet have a blog, I invite you to check out the Become a Blogging Maniac Program starting August 10.
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Annie’s Business Bursting Success Story, Get Blogging & Tweeting Folks
August 5, 2009
I published a story earlier this week about my top 5 tips for success in blogging. But I thought that I should back up a bit and tell you the full story. Because I, a former technophobe, would have been the least likely person to succeed in this area.
I hated marketing. I never did any of it, not one thing. Ok year’s ago I made a few brochures and I had a business card. Big deal. But I never wanted to market myself. I never wanted to run a business. I just wanted to help people. If you’re in a service field like mine, you can probably relate.
If someone had told me back at the beginning, what I would need to do to make a living at this, I would have probably given up right then. I had no idea it would be so hard. But strangely I was able to make a living at it and for that I was thankful. I made a living but I was not going beyond that and last year as I looked into my future, I had to face the scary facts. If I didn’t do something, something drastic, then my business was not going to be sustainable in the future. And I didn’t want that. I love my business.
I knew I had to do something, but I had no idea what. As you will learn about me, the first thing I always do is pray! Not in that silly way of begging some big daddy in the sky to rescue me, but of aligning myself with the bigger powers of the universe. I consider myself an equal partner. So my prayer was this, “Please help me find the way. I’m willing to do whatever it takes.” That was my committment and I knew that I had to mean it for the prayer to work.
So what did doing what it takes mean for me? It meant facing my fears of marketing and technology head on. The LAST thing that I ever wanted to do was to use the internet to market my business. Hours spent on the computer sounded like a fate worse then death. I am a people person and a nature girl. No technology for me! Or at least as little as possible.
But what ended up happening is that I took a HUGE leap of faith. I took a course in marketing for service professionals, led by the handsome and savvy Michael Port of Book Yourself Solid. Michael is really expert in this area.
During the course, I kept telling my wonderful new colleagues that I was not tech savvy like they were and don’t even talk to me about dumb things like Twitter! I did not even want to hear it. I specifically remember a conversation with my new buddy Jeff Simpkins, in which I told him I didn’t think I could do any of this stuff. And he gave me the single best recommendation that I’ve ever had. He told me to take a course by Bea Fields called “Become A Blogging Maniac.” I loved the name.
I liked Jeff and trusted him and the course was only $97 so how could I lose. Even though I still totally doubted myself and my abilities, I decided to go for it. I wasn’t even sure if I had the desire,but I was sure that I didn’t want to fail. I knew that I could fail at this very easily if I wasn’t careful. Technology was not my forte.
I took my NLP backgruond and carefully thought through all the challenges that could stop me. And I figured out how to navigate around them and keep going. This is how I set myself up for success. I carved out a mental path in advance that would allow me to sidestep the obstacles and keep on towards my goal, no matter what. And I did it!
I am so proud to say that I not only finished course, but I produced a beautiful amazing website/blog that I truly love. And most amazing of all is I have had more business success in the past 3 months than I’ve had in all my years of working. Me, a former technophobe, now a shining success in the blogging world. Wow.
If I can do it, so can you. And by the way Twitter has been one of the single most attention generating media for my site. I’ve had notice from people all over the world. And as you’ll see from my results below, this Twitter and blogging thing is neither irrelvant, nor stupid. They and other social media tools, ARE the way of the future. We can pretend they aren’t there, but then we will be the ones left behind.
If you want to succeed in your business and stand out in the crowd like I have, then feel free to follow me. Take Bea’s course. She is an expert in this area. It wasn’t easy but it is possible. Here are my tangible results:
- I had several new clients just in the first 2 months
- I was featured as one of only 40 Story Experts in an ebook online.
- A business man from Japan used several of my stories to create business success with his team.
- I’ve been on the radio twice…..
And that was only in the first three months. So this is just the beginning. My advice to you is to get out and start blogging, get Tweeting and get yourself up to speed. This is all possible. That way, you’ll be on the wave of tomorrow, rather than the back seat of yesterday.
And if you want to know more about Bea Fields or her course: www.becomeabloggingmaniac.com. Or my collegue Jeff Simpkins who is using blogging for bankers at: http://www.bloggingforbankers.com/
Good luck! And let me know how you’re doing in the wonderful wide world of the bloggersphere.
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