I have loaded many of my Excel Training Videos to YouTube. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/DannyRocksExcels

YouTube is a powerful resource with a very wide reach. Many viewers enjoy being able to access and share YouTube content with their friends and other members of their community. I want to give them the opportunity to view and share my Excel Training videos the way the they like to do so.

There video experience on my The Company Rocks Excels site and on my YouTube site are different. Let’s celebrate the difference!

Let me know what you think. Take a minute to add cour comments below.

 When you have a toothache, you call your dentist? Right? When your drain won’t drain, you call your plumber? Correct?

But what if you don’t have a dentist or a plumber? Who would you call? Why would you call them? How would you know if they were reputable? That they could do the job?

Would you call a friend and ask for a recommendation? Would you consult an on-line service such as Craig’s list or Angie’s List?

If you have the time, yes. But if your tooth aches badly enough…? Or if your drain is overflowing and you are knee-deep in…?

Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters?

Seth Godin has, as always, a very good post on this topic - “My tooth doesn’t hurt.”

Plumbers and dentists usually don’t have trouble attracting customers - as long as there are lots of “aching teeth” and “overflowing drains.”

“…On one hand, dentists have no trouble whatsoever getting business from people with toothaches. They hardly have to try. Just show up, I’ll find you. On the other hand, when my teeth don’t hurt, you’re invisible. No amount of signs, service and wonderful marketing is going to get me to pay you to drill my teeth when they don’t hurt. ” - Seth Godin

 

Increase your visibility

Are you invisible? If you sell a product or offer a service, how do you gain visibility? How do you let potential clients know about you and what you offer?

• How do you gain “top of mind share” with your target audience?
• How do find ways to stay in front of customers and clients when they don’t need you?

If you are visible enough, you will increase your value.  And the probability that customers will call you when they need you. But… your visibilty must offer value. Visibility, alone, is not sufficient.

• Billboards and radio ads? - Not enough value. Recognition, perhaps.
• Yellow Page ads? I doubt it. I throw mine into the recycle bin as soon as they are delivered.

Can you create new products or services - for those times when your customer’s teeth don’t ache? Or when their drains drain? Seth Godin cites the “Teeth Whitening” services that dentists now offer. 

What additional services can you offer? 

What services can you offer? How can you get clients to come into your store or to visit your website? At times when they don’t need your products or services?

Blogs are one way - to get customers to leanr more about you. And for you to offer something of value to your customers and potential customers.

As I develop my training and speaking business, I am finding that offering short, free, and focused video lessons is a great way to build awareness of what I offer - and how I offer it. I have also started posting these Excel video lessons on YouTube. I’ll also open up MySpace and Facebook sites soon.

People ask me, “Why are you giving away something for free?” Because I believe that by doing something good to others (offering something of value with no expectation of repayment) you will end up doing good for yourself.

Increase your value. Increase your visibility! 

“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”

- John Wooden

I remember my mother telling me, “You have to go to college. You need to acquire the knowledge that will last you for your lifetime.”

That’s the way it used to be. When you left school, you stopped learning. You started to work. And you worked for the same company until you retired. And then you _____.

Not today.

Learning for a lifetime will not equip us to remain vital - and employed. Rather, we need to invest in ourselves - committing to a lifetime of learning. Well, at least a significant part of our lifetime!

But - here’s the key - learning doesn’t stop. We can decide to stop learning. But economic forces, a global economy and a rapidly changing world demand that we continue to learn new skills. To reinvent ourselves periodically. To adapt to change.

I have been devoting some time to developing my new website - filming short video lessons of MS Excel tipsand time savers. During development, I have asked several friends and colleagues to review the videos and to give me feedback. Many write back to say:

“Wow! I didn’t realize that you could do that. I’ve been wasting a lot of time doing it the wrong way.”

“If only I knew this sooner. I could have saved two hours preparing my last report.”

“I didn’t realize what I didn’t know.”

“I knew that I needed to improve my Excel skills, but I didn’t know where to begin.”

I gain a lot of satisfaction from my career as a trainer and speaker. I love to see someone in my class have an “A ha!” moment. I love to see the light bulb of learning flash on. I enjoy helping people to learn.

And… I enjoy learning. I try to live my lifetime learning - and growing.

How about you? What are your thoughts on the topic of continuing education and professional development?

Please share your comments with our readers. Add a few words in the comment box below. I no longer require you to be registered in order to add your comments.

I have not been on vacation. I have been very busy launching my new blog - Danny Rocks Excels! This blog offers “Tips and Time-Savers” when using MS Excel for Windows.

When you have a few minutes, I invite you to visit. There are now 15 short video lessons posted on the site.  My goal is to create a 3 to 4 minute video for each concept. So far so good!

I have asked several colleagues to review the site and give me feedback. They write to tell me that they enjoy viewing a “short and sweet” lesson on a single concept.

After you visit the site, let me know what you think. I welcome your feedback.

As I continue to develop content for The Company Rocks I am creating specialized blogs to meet your specialized needs.

Introducing the new PowerPoints blog - http://www.thecompanyrocks.com/powerpoints

The focus for this blog is to offer tips that help you to improve your communications skills.

Yes, I will share tips and techniques to help you get the most our of MS PowerPoint. But, this is not a blog that is limited to MS PowerPoint.

MS PowerPoint is just one tool that you may use to help you craft and deliver a powerful message.

Remember these PowerPoints:

Your MS PowerPoint slides are not your message

MS PowerPoint does not deliver your message. You do!

Therefore, the tips and techniques that I share with you to get the most out of MS PowerPoint have a unified message:

“How will this tip help me to make a Powerful Point?”

Click here to visit the PowerPoints blog.

I have posted my first video lesson on the blog. Check back frequently for new articles and video demonstrations.

“The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.”

- Edward Bulwer-Lytton

I’ve been exposed to some great teachers during my lifetime. They have, indeed, inspired me to teach myself; to continue to learn and grow.

But there are times when I need to have a good coach by my side to help smooth out the learning curve.

Case in point: I am learning to use a new software program. This program enables me to record training videos which I then upload to my website. Sounds pretty straight forward. Except it isn’t - for me at least!

I spent the better part of yesterday, searching through on-line help websites; reading the users manual for the program; trying one option after another to get the files uploaded properly. It took me hours and hours of trial and error before I succeeded.

OK, so now I know how to perform this task - I’m over the learning curve for this part of the program.

But… did the learning curve have to be so steep?

No… I needed a coach to help me achieve what I wanted to achieve. Quickly, professionally, and interactively. I was more than willing to pay for the coach’s services. There was just one problem…

The “live” coaches for this program took the day off. They were relaxing with friends and family over the 4th of July weekend.

I was not relaxing. I was climbing a steep learning curve.

A good coach - at the right time - would have made the learning curve much smoother. I learned another lesson while trying to learn this software program.

“People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be - not what you nag them to be.”

- S.N. Parker

Do you manage people who are unmotivated?

When I ask this question during a training session, most managers raise their hands to signal “Yes.”

Unfortunately, there is no such person. Every person is motivated - by something. The problem (as most managers see it) is that other people may not be motivated by the same thing that motivates you.

“Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.” - Stephen R. Covey

We only have the power to motivate one person - ourselves.

But we can can create a motivating environment - that is, we can build a nice big fire on a cold night - that encourages people to want to produce better result. Or to move closer to the fire so that they can stay warm!

“We must motivate ourselves to do our very best, and by our example lead others to do their best as well.” - Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A

We can encourage other to produce better results by:

• Modeling the behavior that we want to see - setting an example for our staff to see.
• Encouraging the behavior that we want to see more of - recognizing and appreciating our staff when we observe them performing their job the way that we expect them to.

It’s that simple. It works. Try it and see for yourself.

But remember - it starts with you. Motivate yourself to do your very best. Don’t be surprised when people wnat to be around you - and to join you by doing the very best that they can.

“Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It’s OK, If you’re not failing you are not growing.”

- H. Stanley Judd

Yesterday, I was writing notes to and following up with the contacts I made at the Summer NAMM Show in Nashville, TN. I also conducted a “post mortem” meeting - a lessons learned meeting - on the past week.

This is a very valuable meeting to hold at the conclusion of any project - and attending a convention is a project. Ask yourself - and the other people involved in the project:

• What worked well? And why did it work so well?
• What did not work out so well? And why didn’t it work out?
• What can we learn from this?
• How can we improve our performance the next time - knowing what we now know?

We learn more from our mistakes than we do from our success.

“Failure is success if you learn from it.” - Malcom S. Forbes

In the course of reviewing my performance at the convention, I was able to identify several areas for improvement. I tried my best to be candid in assessing each interaction that I had. There were many positives but I also identified several areas for improvement.

The one area that I had identified after an earlier convention, I am already working towards improving. I am diligently writing notes to follow-up on each conversation that I had at the convention.

So, please excuse me for now. I must complete this task. I am taking advantage of this opportunity to improve my performance.

Do you conduct “post mortem” meetings at the conclusion of your projects? If you do, please take this opportunity to share your thoughts on the process with our readers.

Thank you!

Greetings from Australia!

I am reaching the end of a two-week tour of speaking and training sessions. I have had a great time! I’ve met lots of terrific people; had some wonderful meals; and… am close to reaching the desired state of ”not having to think about what I do naturally” -  when it come to driving … on the opposite side of the road! Signaling when I intend to turn right - or left! Does this lever turn on my windsheild wipers, or turn on my turn signal? What used to be on my left (in Los Angeles) is now on my right…

This is harder than you think! All change is difficult.

It takes a long time to reach a level of competence - where you can do the things that you need to  be doing - without having to think about them!!! And… to not have to think about the things that you shouldn’t be doing.

Pheww!!! I have a headache now!

And, so should you, after trying to read - and, hopefully, comprehend what I just wrote!

How hard is it to “break” ingrained habits? Quite difficult indeed!

How difficult is it to create new habits? Difficult… but it can be done. It requires concentrated and sustained thought and practice!

Think of the (good) habits that we have acquired. The things that we do without having to think about them - we are unconsciously competent! For example:

• Indicating that we are going to make a left or right turn.
• Actually making a left or right turn - and driving in the correct lane when we make the turn!
• Remembering to (actually) look both ways before crossing the street. I am very lucky to still be alive to write this post after being in Australia for two weeks! I still forget to look to my “right” before crossing the street!

As a professional trainer, I tend to forget how difficult it is to create new habits. I tend to get frustrated when my class does not quickly adopt the new habits that I so logically present and propose.

I still resist saying, “break old habits!” But… I tend to presume that it is easy to adopt new habits. It is not! Not now, not ever!

Either way … it require thought, dedication, and applied effort - sustained over a two-week period before we can start to become unconsciously competent with our new habit!

I hate “breaking old habits.” I prefer to create “new” habits. But … I have to admit - it is easier said than done!

During my training sessions on this trip I have acquired a new appreciation for how difficult it is to acquire new habits. It is harder to do so than I ever said that it would be. I am humbled by the experience!

For example:

• Every time I get into my car I repeat to myself, “It is DOWN RIGHT silly to be LEFT UP on the rooftop.” This little “saying” helps me to remember the direction of my turn signals - DOWN to turn RIGHt and UP to turn LEFT. At home, in Los Angeles, I never give this a second thought. Here in Australia, not thinking about this (seemingly) inconsequential action could get me into serious trouble.

So… I now have a greater understanding for the difficulty of putting into practice the new habits that I want  to adopt. I need to invest a considerable amount of effort into thinking about what I am going to change - and why it is important!

In Australia, if I fail to think about what lane I need to turn into, I can cause an accident. If I negelect to remind myself that my Right Turn Signal is UP - I can cause others to have an accident.

I consider myself to be an intelligent man. I consider myself to be open to  and willing to change habits.

So… why am I still having to think about these changes in habit after two weeks? Because… change takes time to accomplish - even when you are open to change. Especially when you are commited to change.

Change does not happen over night. Not even over a fortnight! But I am getting more comfortable with it each day.

“If you want to make friends, make it a point to remember them. If you remember my name, you pay me a subtle compliment; you indicate that I have made an impression on you. Remember my name and you add to my feeling of importance.”

- Dale Carnegie

I like to be remembered. I like it when people address me by name. I give my return business to those airlines, hotels and service providers who consistently remember my name.

Remembering my name is more than just a courtesy. It is recognition of my lifetime value as a client. As Dale Carnegie reminds us, “Remember my name and you add to my feeling of importance.” And when I feel important - to you - I am more likely to pay attention. I am more likely to purchase your product or service. I am more inclined to recommend your business to my friends and colleagues.

Over the years, I have made it a point to address the people that I meet by name.  I am pretty good at it. It takes practice to acquire this skill. It is a skill that you can learn. But this skill is more than just a fun “parlor trick.” It is your key to connecting with people. The people who matter. To you personally, to your business, to your feeling of richness.

Daniel Scocco wrote an interesting article on this subject on the “Daily Blog Tips” site. Click here to read it - and the comments that follow.

I’ll be attending a conference next week. It is an organization that I have belonged to for many years. The people in the organization matter to me. Enough so that I will make a deliberate effort to address each person that I see there by name - before they have a chance to put on their name badge! Here’s what I do:

• I request a pre-registration list from the organization.
• As I read each person’s name, I try to picture their face - what they look like.
• After this step, I go back and review my notes about the last time we met. What is their spouse’s name, the names of their children, their hobbies, etc.

It is an investment in time. But it is an investment that has paid off handsomely over the years. I remember more than their names. I remember the moments that we have shared together. I remember why names matter.

If you want to pick up a few “tricks” to remembering people’s names, click here. It is a good article by Kelley Robertson.

I you want to establish long lasting relationships with friends and clients, think about why names matter.

“Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” - Dale Carnegie