Grow Your Business and Grow Yourself

Stuart Lockley Grow Your Business
___________________

A postal clerk in Indianapolis made a discovery about her
customers and coworkers – and her own nature.

A newspaper editorial charged that her branch had “the
rudest clerks in town.” The clerk was angry.

"I was rude to people because they were rude to me,”
she said. “What goes around comes around.” Then she wondered
what would happen if she treated others with courtesy. Would
that come around too?

So she made an effort to get to know customer’s names. The
clerk began to smile and ask how they were doing. Even a man
known for his grouchiness eventually became a favourite
customer. All the clerks began to make an effort. Everybody
reaped a reward of cheerfulness.

And it all started with one woman who decided that “what goes
around comes around” can be good news.

Father John Catoir
Three Minutes a Day
The Christophers

It has taken me many years to learn a simple lesson. There are
very few things in life that we are able to directly change.
We cannot change our colleagues, the government, the weather or
our customers. We cannot change our spouses or our children.
If we wish to change any of those things we must begin by
changing ourselves.

If you work in any organisation there are probably coworkers
who you do not get along with as well as you might. No doubt
they annoy and irritate you. But have you stopped to consider
what might happen if you treated them differently? Would they
react to you differently and become less annoying and nicer
people? Perhaps it is worth a try, just do not expect immediate
results.

Often it is easy to blame someone else for a situation when we
are equally to blame ourselves. Even if a situation is not our
"fault" it is still probably worth changing our own behaviour
towards someone else if that will produce an effect that we
want. Even if the change just leaves us feeling better within
ourselves knowing that we have done whatever we were able to do
to change things.

How do you treat your customers? When was the last time that you
sent them a simple note to say “Thank you for your custom and
support”, have you ever sent such a note? How would you feel
towards a supplier who sent you such a letter?

When was the last time you asked your customers if there was
anything that you could do for them? I do not mean as a veiled
message which really means “is there anything else we can sell you.”
Simply and genuinely ask if there is anything you can do for them
without expecting anything in return.

Will some people take advantage? Probably but I am afraid that is
just life. Those people were always going to take advantage in some
way. What is important is the goodwill you generate among the
majority of your customers. If your customers feel that you care
about them they are far less likely to change supplier and it will
always be cheaper to keep existing customers than to find new ones.

Why not just try the idea out with a few of your best customers
and see what happens?


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Grow Yourself
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The best rosebush is not the one with the fewest thorns, but
that which bears the finest roses.

Jerry Van Dyke
Entertainer

The Daffodil Principle
credit to Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you
must come see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go,
but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.

"I will come next Tuesday," I promised, a little reluctantly, on
her third call. Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had
promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into
Carolyn's house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said,
"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the
clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and
these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another
inch!"

My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the
time, Mother." "Well, you won't get me back on the road until it
clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her. I was
hoping you'd take me over to the garage to pick up my car."

"How far will we have to drive?" "Just a few blocks," Carolyn said.
"I'll drive. I'm used to this."

After several minutes, I had to ask, "Where are we going? "This
isn't the way to the garage!" "We're going to my garage the long
way," Carolyn smiled, "by way of the daffodils."

"Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around." "It's all right,
Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss
this experience." After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a
small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of
the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that read, "Daffodil Garden.
"We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and followed the
path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and
gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.

It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and
poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes. The flowers were
planted in majestic, swirling patterns-great ribbons and swaths of
deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter
yellow. Each different-coloured variety was planted as a group so
that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique
hue. A charming path wound through the garden with several resting
stations, with Victorian wooden benches and great tubs of tulips.
It didn't matter that the sun wasn't shining there were five acres
of flowers!

"But who has done this?" I asked Carolyn. "It's just one woman,"
Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home."
Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and
modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.
On the patio, we saw a poster.

"Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking" was the headline.
It Read:

50,000 bulbs,
one at a time,
by one woman
two hands,
two feet,
very little brain.
began in 1958.

There it was: The Daffodil Principle. For me, that moment was a
life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never
met, who, more than forty years before, had begun-one bulb at a
time-to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain
top. Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year,
had changed the world. This unknown woman had forever changed the
world in which she lived. She had created something of indescribable
magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest
principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals
and desires one step at a time-often just one baby-step at a time-and
learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time.
When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily
effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can
change the world.

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have
accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty
years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all
those years. Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way.
"Start tomorrow," she said. "It's so pointless to think of the lost
hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration
instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, 'How can I put this to
use today?'"


How many times have you put off your dream of a writing a book,
painting a picture, learning a language, starting a business or
something else that is your deepest desire, because it seemed daunting
or unachievable? What excuse have you used to wait for another day?
Do you tell yourself, I will start:

When the children are grown
In the spring
In the summer
After college
When you lose 10 lbs.
When you gain 10 lbs.
When you get married
When you get a divorce
When you have kids
When you retire

How much could you achieve if you start today by doing just one thing
towards your dream? Like the daffodil gardener, if you plant just one
seed of your dream every day, you can create a lasting life quilt that
leads to your destiny.

There is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a
journey, not a destination. So work like you don't need money. Love
like you've never been hurt. And, dance like no one's watching.

If you want to brighten someone's day, pass this on to someone special.

I just did!

This article has been taken from one of my newsletter. If you have enjoyed this article then visit my web site now and sign up for the newsletter and receive other great ideas delivered direct to your email.

Wishing you every success

Stuart

About the Author

Stuart Lockley BSc, MBA, ACA is a Business Growth Consultant who specialises in helping owner managed businesses to increase turnover, profits and cash flow. Stuart can be contacted at www.stuartlockley.com where there is other free information and a newsletter.