Pour out your cup.

It's your job to pour out your cup of knowledge, to share what your have learned, into the cups of other people. It's not your job to fill their cups and you are not responsible for what they do after you've poured, you are just responsible to pour yours out.

It's convention season and I love it. It's a time, at Maize Quest, when we get together with our operators at the Maze Master Summit. We share ideas, network, introduce our clients to each other and host guest speakers to enrich our business lives with new, fresh information. It's a wonderful time.

Over the past few weeks I've caught the 'bug' of this rich information sharing as I've called to touch base and personally invite our clients to the Summit. Our operators have had such a wide and varied set of experience, just in one year, that we started collecting pictures and stories for our "My Best Idea" segment of the Summit.

Pour out your cup. I came across this idea somewhere, probably on a Podcast. It's the idea that it is our responsibility to share, give, help and care for other people.

That's nice and mushy, touchy-feely-blah-blah-blah, but I really liked the second part of the thought: It's not your responsibility to fill their cups, it's just your responsibility to pour.

It's as if the mere act of sharing, of pouring, creates the benefit to you. Most of us can relate to a situation in which we gave our time or talents to an organization or group of people and came away feeling richer for the experience. You didn't solve all the group's problems that day, but you received intrinsic benefits just the same.

Let's face it: We've all been on receivers from great people who willingly share their knowledge. We've all gotten a great idea from someone else, snagged a marketing tip and added a product after learning from someone else who sold it. We all owe a debt to the greater universe for some part of our current success. Pour away! Share your knowledge! Add to the conversation. More is more!

Giver or receiver. Being on the pouring side of the equation is just part of concept. While I believe you will receive benefit from pouring, we all benefit from receiving; receiving knowledge, ideas, feedback, understanding and a sense of community. Remember the responsibility for filling your cup, rests squarely with you as well. Chances are that you can't fill your cup from a single source, so you must actively seek new sources. You must, in this situation, be an active giver and an active receiver.

Why we go to conventions. When it comes to sharing information, we, as direct marketers, have limited options on a daily basis. We are distributed across the globe, but conventions bring us together. Where else can you go to a meeting and come away with multiple $1,000 ideas?! I know I'll have my travel budget paid for before the end of the Bus Tour.

This big reason I enjoy conventions, NAFDMA and the Maze Master Summit being my favs, is that I enjoy the company of people who understand. People who understand my business, face similar challenges and have successes they want to share. Sure, I do my share of pouring, but its the refilling of my cup from so many varied sources that fires me up for another year of hard work.

So, what do you get out of your off-season? Do you have a plan for rejuvenation through kindred spirits sharing failures and victories? I'll be at NAFDMA and hosting the Maze Master Summit for our operators. I certainly hope you avail yourself this opportunity.

It's your responsibility to pour out your cup for the benefit of others, but luckily the pressure's off - you are not responsible for filling anyone else's cup but your own.

Have a great week,

Hugh

PS Drop me a line if you're heading to NAFDMA! We're launching our newest game there - think technology + corn maze...

You are the pancreas.

You are the pancreas. Many of us feel like we are the "brains" of this operation or maybe you're the "heart" of the business or maybe you're the "lifeblood" of your business, but it is much more likely that you are, or need to be, the pancreas.

 

Dear friends of mine have a child with diabetes. This has given me a much deeper insight into the role and function of the lowly pancreas. I also have enjoyed with my children some great books called the Organ Wise Guys and recommend them to you as well. http://www.organwiseguys.com/ 

In reading about the body from a child's perspective, I've come to associate people in our business with organs of the body. It's weird, I know, but you already knew that about me, so stick with me and I'll explain more about the "Internal Organs of Your Business."

 

The true "brains" of the operation always seems to me to need to be a cold calculating mass of gray matter. The brains of the operation can't be swayed one where the other by emotions and thus is the perfect analysis machine. Being the brains of the operation sure does sound like a great job unfortunately no matter how good the brain of the operation is if you can't get along with other people and manage the feelings of people and acknowledge the existence of peoples' feelings the "brain" will be unsuccessful.

 

Many of us feel like the "heart" of the operation the person who keeps everyone going no matter what concerned with feelings paying attention to how everyone's doing monitoring their emotions this is the job of the heart of the operation. Just as in your own body the heart of the operation is however quite vulnerable because the heart of the operation cares so deeply about the feelings of other people. Sometimes the heart can be swayed by the desire to make people feel better at any cost.

 

Maybe you'd rather be the "life blood" of the organization. That sounds important. You keep things flowing. You eliminate waste and refresh with oxygen, invigorating you business. The Life-blood is a very useful part of the system, but it doesn't really produce anything by itself. It needs the other parts to get anything done.

 

Which brings us to you, the pancreas. The lowly pancreas. Not much glamour there. No one ever says, "Your words cut me to the pancreas" or "I really put my whole pancreas into that project." No, the pancreas doesn't get much glory, but you are the pancreas. What your pancreas does, however, is so vitally important it really should get a more royal treatment. The pancreas is the body's regulator and without it, none of the other systems works correctly.

 

The pancreas' management of insulin and blood sugar levels is critical to your body's proper functioning.  As your body increases its demand for energy because of activity the pancreas must allow that energy to flow by reducing the quantity of insulin. You often have to stoke the fire of your organization. You have to free the flow of energy. 

Sometimes you have to provide the energy. That's what most of us think of when we meet a motivating person. That person, sometimes you, brings energy to the event, the room, the meeting or to the work day. Often, however, it is just as key to free the flow of energy from other people. Do you have oppressive paperwork? Dower bosses? Restrictive policies? These can all restrict the flow of energy from other people in your organization and it's your job to free them.

The energy regulator. Conversely, when a rush of sugar hits the body and the activity level does not require that energy, the pancreas must slow things down by pumping insulin. Being the regulator is tough enough when you are "freeing energy" for the organization, but slowing it down can be disastrous if mismanaged. Likewise, NOT slowing the crazy sugar train can derail the business. 

What do I mean? Rapid expansion is a classic example. As your business grows from your success, from all that energy you've successfully released, the temptation to forecast "blue skies only" is huge. "Why not take that loan? At the rate we're growing, we can never be stopped!" 

Riiiiight. Anyone ridden that crazy train before? It's your job to regulate the energy, not stop it, regulate it. When the gift items are selling well, often someone wants to order any and all gift items because "you can sell anything" to your guests. A good pancreas will slow things down to make sure new items fit the style of the business and the needs of the customers.

Planning to be a good pancreas. When my friend's family travels, eats out, has a snack they plan for the coming carbohydrates by doing calculations, setting the insulin pump appropriately and sticking to the plan.

"Roller coasters rides" are bad for blood sugar and for business management. This is the time of year for planning. I often use the quote "A goal without a plan is a wish.", and the benefits of planning keep growing for me as I implement a stricter planning system. 

• When you have a plan you worry less. You don't need to constantly be thinking "What might happen if..", because you already did in your planning cycle. 
• When you have a plan, you spend less. You don't fall for ad reps peddling "Specials" or emails touting new monitors, because you already know you are getting new computer gear this year.
• When you have a plan, you manage people more effectively. If you've ever been a parent, you know the key to managing children is to be on the same page as your spouse, implement the same rules and present a unified front to the children's relentless attacks. You have to have a plan for your employees, too.

So this is the season to get your plans together. Make budgets. Write marketing plans. Lock in ad rates. Write your employee expectations. Set down with your spouse. Write it down. Why? If you can't commit to writing your plans down, can you really be committed enough to actually accomplishing your goals? In less than a month, you'll be too busy and you'll run another full year wishing you could achieve your goals.

You can probably spot some of the ways people in your business function like the internal organs of a body; the "Organs of Your Business." 

If you truly want to be the "life-blood" of your business, if you want to be the real "brains" of the outfit, if you want to be the "heart" of your operation, you need to be the best little pancreas you can possibly be.

Have a great planning week,

Hugh