Podcast #36 – Collaboration vs.Competition

Podcast #36 of Xtraordinary Living is out. In this episode I interviewed one of PL&L’s corporate clients, Founder and CEO of REZA Investment Group Reza Etedali. I believe you’ll find Reza’s background highly inspiring, and his way of doing business a breath of fresh air in an often stagnant corporate America.

When we think of big business, often we imagine the CEOs to be impersonal human beings; corporate big-wigs who are so dedicated to making money they have little time to care about the people around them . .. be it family or employees. In this podcast you will hear in Reza’s words as well as in his calming voice, a kind and generous man building his vision through collaboration to support all of the people in his life.

In our 36th episode, you’ll hear:
– How Reza came to the US to pursue his dreams. Follow his careers from age 14 until now, as the twists and turns created his current extraordinary life.
– Why he was driven to start his own business.
– How important it is to have a vision and direction with an environment to support them both.
– Why Reza made the decision to change his sales model from competition-based to one of collaboration.
– What the results have been, even as he saw people leave the company when the changes were made.
– How Reza felt when one of the investment group’s best months occurred while he was on holiday for a month.
– What advice he has for weathering the daily “sky is falling” media barrage.
– and more!

When I asked Reza what he would most like to be remembered for — he replied, “Somebody who helped make this world a better place.” Please visit REZA Investment Group to find out more about Reza and his company.

After you listen to the podcast post your thoughts below. In addition, you can leave your feedback by phone. Simply call 1-800-609-9006 x3144 and record your comments and tell me what you think.

This episode is approximately 25 minutes long. To listen to it, click here:Podcast 36

Instead of listening to the podcast here, you may want to consider subscribing directly using your preferred podcasting tool (see below.) The benefit to you in doing this is that it frees you from being tethered to your computer. You now have the freedom to listen to it WHEN & WHERE you want to.

Subscribe:

Or copy and paste this URL into a podcasting tool:

http://www.switchpod.com/users/rickipll/feed.xml

Technorati Tags: Reza Investment Group, Reza Etedali, Commercial Real Estate brokers, Collaboration, Competition, Xtraordinary Living, www.productivelearning.com, Rick Itzkowich

Quotes for the Week of August 27-31

If you are currently a “QuoteActions” subscriber and would like to receive the corresponding actions to these quotes, please send me an email requesting them. Just be sure to include this week’s dates in the subject line so I can send you the appropriate ones.

If you are not yet a subscriber, you may want to take the two-week $1 trial so that you can find out the tremendous value that these actions add to the quotes.

“When nothing is sure, everything is possible.” British Author, Margaret Drabble

“The best things in life aren’t ‘things’.” Unknown Author

“All the arts are apprenticeship. The big art is our life.” Artist, M. C. Richards

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”
Irish Dramatist, George Bernard Shaw

“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance”
Former Harvard President, Derek Bok

Technorati Tags: Motivational Quotes, Xtraordinary Living, www.productivelearning.com, Rick Itzkowich

I owe you an apology plus the cost of shortcuts.

This morning the phone rang at 5 AM and when my wife answered I assumed it was my sister in-law. She lives in Europe and after 15 years, I’m kind of used to her calling at “off hours.” Unfortunately the call wasn’t from her. It was the daily “QuoteActions” call. Needless to say, this was not good news. The thought that 500 of my clients were receiving a call at 5 AM instead of the regular 8 AM time was very disconcerting.

As I ran to my home office and logged into the server to try to stop the calls from continuing, it was too late. 90% of them had already been delivered, meaning that I was facing the prospect of having nearly 450 people rather upset with me.

While I’m trying to figure out how to minimize the damage, I decided to call my marketing consultant. Even though it was only 5:15 AM I felt rather certain that she would probably be up since I know she has a Wednesday BNI meeting that starts at 6:45am. I was right about her being up. Unfortunately, her husband doesn’t share her same schedule and he wasn’t up. Strike two!

I finally talked to Sue a bit later and we figured out that the best way to deal with this was to offer an apology with tomorrow’s “QuoteAction” and also here on the blog. I’ve talked or corresponded via email with many clients today and all of them were very understanding. Thank you for that.

If you are a “QuoteActions” subscriber and I didn’t personally connect with you today please accept my apologies for calling at such an early time and any disturbance this may have caused you or your family.

But this post is not only about offering an apology, but to also address the topic of “shortcuts.” The reason the calls went out at 5 AM is because I took a shortcut. The system that delivers the calls has a feature designed to prevent this sort of mistake – where the calls get delivered according to the wrong time zone. However this feature adds one more step to the call creation. This has not been an issue because up until now, the volume of calls I need to set up has been relatively small.

However last month’s launch of the “QuoteActions” Private Sponsorship Program has created a new challenge for me. It has been more popular than I initially expected it and the volume of calls I need to set up has substantially increased. I’m in the process of hiring someone to help me do this but in the meantime, I still need to take care of this increased volume.

So last night I temporarily disabled the “time zone insurance” feature figuring that saving the extra step would be significant given the volume of calls I needed to set up. My plan was to re-enable the feature when I was finished. I had successfully done this in the past, so I felt pretty confident it would work. Only problem was that yesterday I forgot to re-set it.

So I have a feeling that this will be one of those lessons that I won’t forget anytime soon about wanting to take a shortcut!

Technorati Tags: mistakes, errors, shortcuts, Xtraordinary Living, www.productivelearning.com, Rick Itzkowich

Quotes for the Week of August 20-24

If you are currently a “QuoteActions” subscriber and would like to receive the corresponding actions to these quotes, please send me an email requesting them. Just be sure to include this week’s dates in the subject line so I can send you the appropriate ones.

If you are not yet a subscriber, you may want to take the two-week $1 trial so that you can find out the tremendous value that these actions add to the quotes.

“There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and second, to enjoy it. Only the wisest achieve the latter.”
Writer, Logan Pearsall Smith

“If you want to be sad, no one in the world can make you happy. But if you make up your mind to be happy, no one and nothing on earth can take that happiness from you.” Indian Guru, Paramhansa Yogananda

“A man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” Chines Proverb

“He who cannot forgive others destroys the bridge over which he himself must pass.” 17th Century Poet, George Herbert

“Courage is very important. Like a muscle it is strengthened by use.” Actress, Ruth Gordon

Technorati Tags: Motivational Quotes, Xtraordinary Living, www.productivelearning.com, Rick Itzkowich

Podcast #35 – The Power of Choice

Podcast #35 of Xtraordinary Living is out. This is another “solo” podcast where I cover The Power of Choice. The quality of our life is directly related to the quality of our choices. Discover the two key elements in making powerful choices — self-awareness and purpose.

In our 35th episode, you’ll hear:
– How to recognize whether you may be like so many others, sleepwalking through life . . . unaware of your choices
– What role having a clear purpose or mission plays in helping you make better choices on a daily basis
– Why you need to examine your goals to be sure there are not underlying or unconscious agendas influencing your decisions
– How you can take a simple choice like “walking your dog” and choose to have it meet three of your life’s goals on separate occasions (1-fitness, 2-relaxation and 3-relationship-building)
– Why being aware of what you are trying to accomplish with your choices makes it easier to make “right choices”
– How to incorporate two useful tools, vision and discipline, to make better choices
– and more.
After you listen to the podcast post your thoughts below. In addition, you can leave your feedback by phone. Simply call 1-800-609-9006 x3144 and record your comments and tell me what you think.

This episode is approximately 15 minutes long. To listen to it, click here:Podcast 35

Instead of listening to the podcast here, you may want to consider subscribing directly using your preferred podcasting tool (see below.) The benefit to you in doing this is that it frees you from being tethered to your computer. You now have the freedom to listen to it WHEN & WHERE you want to.

Subscribe:

Or copy and paste this URL into a podcasting tool:

http://www.switchpod.com/users/rickipll/feed.xml

Technorati Tags: The Power of Choice, Decisions, Xtraordinary Living, www.productivelearning.com, Rick Itzkowich

Quotes for the Week of August 13-17

If you are currently a “QuoteActions” subscriber and would like to receive the corresponding actions to these quotes, please send me an email requesting them. Just be sure to include this week’s dates in the subject line so I can send you the appropriate ones.

If you are not yet a subscriber, you may want to take the two-week $1 trial so that you can find out the tremendous value that these actions add to the quotes.

“A goal should scare you a little, and excite you a lot!” Author, Joe Vitale

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” Artist, Hans Hofman

“Everyone has talent; what is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark places where it leads.” Author, Erica Jong

“I know why families were created, with all their imperfections. They humanize you. They are made to make you forget yourself occasionally, so that the beautiful balance of life is not destroyed.” Writer, Anais Nin

“Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
William Shakespeare

Technorati Tags: Motivational Quotes, Xtraordinary Living, www.productivelearning.com, Rick Itzkowich

You can’t connect the dots going forward

This is a short video of Steve Jobs 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University. The message he conveys is one that will definitely support Xtraordinary Living. This video is approximately 14 minutes long. Enjoy!


Technorati Tags: Steve Jobs 2005 Stanford University Commencement Speech, Xtraordinary Living, www.productivelearning.com, Rick Itzkowich

Quotes for the Week of August 6-10

If you are currently a “QuoteActions” subscriber and would like to receive the corresponding actions to these quotes, please send me an email requesting them. Just be sure to include this week’s dates in the subject line so I can send you the appropriate ones.

If you are not yet a subscriber, you may want to take the two-week $1 trial so that you can find out the tremendous value that these actions add to the quotes.

“A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.” American Writer, William Arthur Ward

“When it comes to ourselves, we are always the exception” An Anonymous Author

“Since God made us to be originals, why stoop to be a copy?” Reverend, Billy Graham

“Kindness is never wasted. If it has no effect on the recipient, at least it benefits the bestower.” Biologist, S.H. Simmons

“Be the change you want to see in the world” Mahatma Gandhi

Technorati Tags: Motivational Quotes, Xtraordinary Living, www.productivelearning.com, Rick Itzkowich

Podcast #34 – The Role of Blogs & Podcasts

Episode # 34 of Xtraordinary Living is out. Many of our listeners own their company or work for companies that need to decide whether “to blog, or not to blog” or “to podcast, or not to podcast.” These are the questions we discussed with renowned small business marketing guru, John Jantsch.

In this podcast, if you are a business owner you will get hands-on practical and smart advice; if you subscribe to blogs and podcasts you will see how they come together; and if this technology hasn’t become a part of your life yet, you’ll learn why it could add value to your extraordinary life.

In our 34th episode, you’ll hear:
– What value blogs and podcasts provide companies and their listeners.
– How 75% of the U.S. population now begins their search for products and services on the Internet.
– Why businesses of all sizes need to look into adding a blog or podcast to their marketing mix.
– How producing podcast episodes can open doors you may not have had the chance to otherwise go through.
– Five practical ways to get started writing your own blog
– and more.

When the editor-at-large of Inc. magazine, Bo Burlingham, says, “John’s blog Duct Tape Marketing is living proof that John’s ideas work, and that his book Duct Tape Marketing should be required reading for anyone who is building a business. I think we can safely say – John is an extraordinary marketing advisor!” Links to all of his information, blog, podcast and book can be found at his website Duct Tape Marketing.

After you listen to the podcast post your thoughts below. In addition, you can leave your feedback by phone. Simply call 1-800-609-9006 x3144 and record your comments and tell me what you think.

This episode is approximately 24 minutes long.To listen to it, click here:Podcast 34

Instead of listening to the podcast here, you may want to consider subscribing directly using your preferred podcasting tool (see below.) The benefit to you in doing this is that it frees you from being tethered to your computer. You now have the freedom to listen to it WHEN & WHERE you want to.

Subscribe:

Or copy and paste this URL into a podcasting tool:

http://www.switchpod.com/users/rickipll/feed.xml

Technorati Tags: John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing, Blogs, Podcasts, Marketing, Small Busienss Marketing, Xtraordinary Living, www.productivelearning.com, Rick Itzkowich

Quotes for the Week of July 30 – August 3

If you are currently a “QuoteActions” subscriber and would like to receive the corresponding actions to these quotes, please send me an email requesting them. Just be sure to include this week’s dates in the subject line so I can send you the appropriate ones.

If you are not yet a subscriber, you may want to take the two-week $1 trial so that you can find out the tremendous value that these actions add to the quotes.

“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.” American Social Writer, Eric Hoffer

“There’s a difference between fishing and standing on the shore like an idiot.” Comedian, Steven Wright

“All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to and why” Humorist, James Thurber

“The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.” Albert Eisntein

“To change one’s life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly. No exceptions.” Psychologist, William James

Technorati Tags: Motivational Quotes, Xtraordinary Living, www.productivelearning.com, Rick Itzkowich