Sometimes in business, and even in our daily lives for that matter, we all need a little push to get us going.
Maybe we are just stuck in a rut as they say or maybe we are afraid of stepping out of our comfort zone to try something new.
But for whatever the reason may be, if you needing that little push of motivation, hopefully this can help.
I thought about this age old story today and I wanted to share it with you here. It makes a good point about how easy it is to just sit still.



Once upon a time….oh you’ve heard that one….ok..let’s try this one….


A very long time ago there was a King who received a gift of two young Falcons.

He gave them to a professional bird trainer to be trained.

Weeks passed and one day the trainer informed the man that...

Even though one of the Falcons was flying well and soaring high in the sky...

...the other bird hadn't moved from its branch since the day it had arrived.


The man summoned experts of all sorts from all over the land to look at the eagle.

They examined and tested the Falcon…

But no one could make it fly.

After trying everything he could, the King thought to himself...

Hmmmm….."Maybe I need someone more familiar with the countryside to understand the nature of this problem."

So the King told his servants...

"Go and get a farmer."

So they did and the very next day...

The Falcon was soaring high above the gardens.

The King was amazed and said…

"Bring me the man behind this miracle."

The farmer was brought to the King, and was asked...

"How did you make the Falcon fly?"

With his head bowed, the shy ole farmer said to the King...

"It was very easy sir. I simply cut the branch where the bird was sitting."


The moral of this story?

We are all made to fly...

... but to realize your incredible potential as an entertainer and business owner...

...the branch needs to be cut.


I see it on here often….

I see smart, capable, passionate people sitting on their branches, clinging to the things that are familiar to them...

... and never taking that leap of faith to soar high in business and in life.

The possibilities are endless, but for most...

...they remain undiscovered.

We conform to the familiar, the comfortable, and the mundane.

So for the most part, our lives are MEDIOCRE...

...instead of exciting, thrilling and fulfilling.

You see...

You can either be shuffling around on a branch, too scared to jump off...encouraged by others to just sit still….

or you can be soaring high in the sky, looking down at the miserable birds who were too scared to leave their branches

and too scared to make a solid commitment to better themselves and their business.


The choice is yours.


Today is a good day to cut the branch.


I’ll be looking up hoping to see you.

Tom

Thank you Tom. Your truly is truly needed in this forum.

Thanks for all the kind messages. I do appreciate it.

Now, staying with the subject of birds, I have to tell you this.

Yesterday I dropped my wife off at the local Sams Club to pick up a few things. I didn’t go in with her because I was tired,
had a backache and my legs were hurting. Didn’t feel up to walking all over the store going up and down each aisle like my
wife does when shopping for one loaf of bread.

Anyway, as I sat in the car I noticed a few birds out in the parking lot a few spots over. They were obviously scavenging for food.
But one little fellow really caught my eye because it was almost white like a magicians dove.

But then my jaw dropped when I noticed it only had one leg.

A one legged bird….

Yes, a one legged bird.

This little bird was going about its business as normal as all the other birds. He seemed to be holding his head up high with no
thought towards a disability. I could just tell this little fellow was a survivor. After all it had survived the hot summer, neighborhood
cats, etc, and I’m sure it will probably survive the winter too. It’s like you can always spot a winner.

Suddenly I started thinking, I don't have half the problems that this little one-legged bird has and here
I am complaining about my little aches and pains.

Surely if this little bird can flourish and live a good life, then I can do the same thing.
Needless to say my little aches started feeling better.



Ok, that’s the one legged bird story, now let’s move on and change the subject to business and lettuce.

Yes, lettuce.

When you plant lettuce, if it doesn’t grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well.

It may need more fertilizer, or more water, more sun, or even less sun…...

But you never blame the lettuce.

Yet if we have problems with our business clients we often blame the other person.

But if we only knew how to take care of them, they would grow well, like the lettuce.

Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and argument.

To serve as a reminder, every business person needs a sign that reads. “No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding.”

Wouldn’t that be a great thought to keep in mind?


Y’all take care and stay inspired. I’m looking forward to seeing you again right here next Sunday. Thanks for reading.

Tom

PS.
There may be days when you get up in the morning and things aren’t the way you had hoped they would be. That’s when you have
to tell yourself that things will get better. There are times when people disappoint you and let you down. But those are the
times when you must remind yourself to trust your own judgments and opinions, to keep your life focused on believing in yourself.

There is real magic in believing in yourself. You do know that don’t you?

So when the days come that are filled with frustration and unexpected responsibilities, remember to believe in yourself and all you
want your life to be. Because the challenges and changes will only help you to find the goals that you know are meant to come true for you.

Yes there is real magic in believing in yourself. Keep believing.

Correction: Your post are truly needed in this forum.

I also read Tom's motivational post and quotes.

Tom

Thank you VERY much for these inspiring stories!!! You definitely give good food for thought, I for one appreciate it.

Mark

The story below is usually told as author unknown, but I did find out that it was adapted from an older Chinese childrens book called, “The Empty Pot” by Demi. I thought it was a good story with an excellent business lesson so I wanted to share it here.

A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.

Instead of choosing a board member or one of his family members, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.

He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you." The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to give each one of you a SEED today, one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the
plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO."

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story.
She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed.

Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by - still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however. He just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - He so wanted the seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection. Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick at his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful -- in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. Jim just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown," said the CEO. "Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!" All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the financial director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, "The CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!"

When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his Seed - Jim told him the story.

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, "Behold your next Chief Executive! His name is Jim!"
Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new CEO the others said?

Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today.
But, I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow. All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers.
When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive!"

Many lessons here for us all:

If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.
If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.
If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.
If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment.
If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective.
If you plant hard work, you will reap success.
If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.

So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later.

Take care, stay inspired, and hopefully I’ll see you again soon.

Tom

Another GEM!!!! Thank you Tom.

Thanks Mark, you’re much too kind. This one is for you….


There was once a woman that had worked all her life to bring about good to all those around her.
One day she revealed her lifelong wish. “Before I die let me visit both hell and heaven.”

Sure enough, her wish was granted…..

She was quickly taken to a great banquet hall in a faraway place. The tables were piled high with
delicious food and drink. All around the tables sat miserable, starving people as pitiful as could be.

“Why are they like this?” she asked the angel who accompanied her.

“Look at their arms,” the angel replied.

She looked and saw that attached to the people’s arms were long chopsticks secured above the elbow.
Unable to bend their elbows, the people aimed the chopsticks at the food, missed every time and sat
hungry, frustrated and miserable.

“Indeed this is hell! Take me away from here!”

She was then taken off to heaven. Again she found herself in a great banquet hall with tables piled high.
Around the tables sat people laughing, contented, and joyful.

“No chopsticks I suppose,” she said.

“Oh yes there are. Look, just as in hell they are long and attached above the elbow, but look closer and you
will notice that here people have learned to feed one another”.


_______________


What a Business Lesson Here: Operating a business is not all about feeding yourself. Unless you’re willing to share
with others your life can be frustrating and miserable. It can be hell.


One of my all time favorite quotes by the late Zig Ziglar said it well with:

“You can have anything you want in life, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

You can’t go it alone folks.

Take care, stay inspired, and hopefully I’ll see you again soon.

Tom

A chamber of commerce in a small town invited a speaker to address its annual dinner.
The community’s economy was bad, the local business people were discouraged, and they
wanted this motivational speaker to give them a boost.

During the presentation, the speaker took a large piece of white paper and made a small black dot at the
center with a marking pen. Then he held the paper up before the group and asked them what they saw.

One person quickly replied, “I see a black dot.”

“Okay, what else do you see?”

Others joined in agreement: “A black dot.”

“Don’t you see anything besides the dot?” he asked.

A loud “No” came from the audience.

“What about the sheet of paper?” asked the speaker. “I am sure you all see it”, he said.
“It’s right here in front of you, but you have chosen to overlook it.”

“In life, and our own little business world, we tend to overlook and take for granted many wonderful things around us.
We focus our attention and energy on small, dot like failures and disappointments. The so called ‘problems’ that we have
are usually like the black dot on the paper. They are small and insignificant, if we would only just widen our horizon and
look at the whole picture.”

Are you one to focus all your attention and energy on small dot-like problems?

Are you really working with the whole picture?


Take care, stay inspired, and hopefully I’ll see you again next Tuesday.

Tom

Thanks again Tom. I had heard that story before, but I still find "lesson" powerful.

Mark

Have you ever observed the behavior of birds in time of adversity?

For days and days they make their little nest, sometimes gathering materials brought from far away places.

And when they have completed the nest and are ready to lay eggs....

the weather or the work of humans, or some animal, destroys it, and it falls to the ground.

With all that they have done with so much effort, do they stop?

Bewildered, and leave their work?

Do they give up?

No Way !!

They start building the nest again. They sing and build.

And if need be, they do it all again until they have eggs in the nest again.

Sometimes, and very often before the chicks are hatched, an animal, a child, or a storm destroys the nest once again,

but this time with its valuable contents.

Now it hurts to go back and begin again.....

But even so, the birds do not stop, they continue to sing and build. They just keep singing and building.

They don’t give up.

Do you sometimes get the feeling that your magic, your work, your business, or your life is not what you had dreamed.

Do you sometimes want to say 'ENOUGH', the effort is not worthwhile. It is all too much for me!

Are you tired of it all? Do you feel that the daily struggle is a waste of time, your trust has been betrayed, your goals not
reached just as you were about to get them? You feel like all the magic is gone?

I know from personal experience that life strikes you down sometimes, but I also know that like the birds we must keep moving.
We must keep rebuilding. A few years ago hurricane Katrina did some serious damage to our daycare center business.
But we came back stronger than ever. About a year ago a bad tornado took out half our building and all of the equipment on the
large playground. But we came back again. Just recently, a fire destroyed everything we had at the daycare center.

Still, I have faith that we will be back.....

Sometimes you just have to put your faith in hope and block out all the darkness. Gather yourself together and rebuild your life,
so that it runs well again.

While we humans may not always feel like singing like the birds do during the bad times, or during the rebuilding process, we should
always remember the lesson that we must never give up.

No matter what happens......you should never give up…..change directions maybe or make some adjustments.....but you never give up.


Take care, stay inspired, and I’ll see you again next Monday.

Tom

Tom

This message came at just the right time for me. I am doing a church show Wednesday night, and for the first time in 6 years my wife will not be performing with me. She is in the hospital having some tests for a severe digestive problem, which has been an ongoing problem. We are not giving up, we will continue and never give up. We have a girl from our church filling in, it is all about our audience.

Tom, I can say for myself that these stories are an inspiration to me, with your faith and positive outlook you WILL be back...and better than ever. I believe it because I KNOW you believe it!!!

All the best

Mark

True story: I can remember growing up on a farm back in the 50's and 60’s having many meaningful conversations with my father.
This is one about The Pickle Patch.

In those days my dad would plant a large field of cucumbers and then hire local workers to pick the crop. The workers collected
the pickles from the vines and using dad's truck we would haul them to the nearby plant to be sold. Dad would keep half the money
and the workers would get the other half. The work was always done on a 50/50 commission basis so the harder you worked the more
money you could make. That’s the way things were done back then.

At a young age, my brother and sister, and I decided we wanted to earn some extra money from a cucumber patch. I'll never forget
that conversation I had with my dad.

Our strategy was to convince our dad to plant us three kids a separate, much smaller cucumber patch. That way we would be in business
for ourselves and get to keep all the money. Our plan was to harvest the crops less often, allowing the cucumbers to grow larger, which
would make us more money doing less work.

I was appointed the spokesperson to approach Dad with our concept. To my surprise, he loved the idea. Dad thought it was wonderful that
we wanted to do something on our own. He thought our own patch was a great idea, except for the part about us sitting and waiting until
the cucumbers grew bigger before taking them to market.

He said, "First, let's stop calling it a cucumber patch, let's see it as a pickle patch. You see son, small pickles may not weigh nearly
as much as the large cucumbers do, but they sell for a lot more money. To increase profit, we need to pick the pickles regularly, not allowing
them to grow big. This yields faster crops that we can sell at a higher price. I'll be glad to plant the crop for ya'll, just remember this:
‘lazy people plant cucumbers, smart people plant pickles.’ Which one do you want me to plant for you?"

Even though it ended up being much harder work than we had hoped for, that summer turned out to be a very profitable one for us three kids.
We each ended up with enough money to get those bicycles we had always wanted.

Today as I look back at that summer I realize there were valuable lessons that came from our first taste of entrepreneurship. As children,
we just assumed bigger was better, not realizing it was quality, not quantity that the buyers wanted. Small pickles were much more valuable than large cucumbers.

I also learned that working smarter still requires hard work. We could have just sat back and let the cucumbers grow. But, instead,
working smarter meant we had to stay actively involved to produce the optimal product.

Lastly, approaching my dad and asking his advice proved to be invaluable. When looking for guidance, seek out those with experience and wisdom
before jumping into a situation. While some risks are necessary in life, it pays to be prudent and smart when making big decisions.

Next time you are stepping into a project or making a major life decision, remember the pickle patch, because big is not always better,
and waiting is not always best.

Take care, stay inspired, and I’ll see you again next Monday.

Tom


PS. Thanks Mark. Hope the tests and show went well. Thoughts and prayers are with you and the wife.

Three magicians walk into a bar. One wants a martini, one wants a glass of red wine, and one wants a glass of cold water with no ice.

But neither one get what they want until……….

A young magician walks into a magic shop and he looks at that new magic item that he wants to buy.
It took him months to save enough money up to buy it. Now that day is here, but he doesn’t get it until……..

A little boy was having difficulty lifting a heavy stone. His father came along and as he noticed the boy struggling, he asked,

"Are you using all your strength?" "Yes, I am," the little boy said. As he continued to watch, the father asks again,

"Are you sure you using all your strength?" "Yes, I am," the little boy said. "No, you are not," the father answered.

"I am right here just waiting, and you haven't………”


I’ve told this before on here, but it fits so well here I have to repeat it:

The top salesman for a large corporation got up to speak; he had been top salesman with the company for several years.

He had won many awards over his career and was about to retire.

He said, “Tonight I am going to reveal the secret of my success. I wrote it down on a piece of paper and I put it in this envelope. But
success must be earned so I can’t just give it away. I'm going to sell the envelope to the highest bidder. You have my word that it contains
my true secret to success not only as a salesman, but also in life.”

The bidding started at $5.

Then it quickly jumped to $10.

Then $50,

$100,

$200.

Finally one of the salesmen bought the envelope for $1000.

The excited buyer took the envelope and kept it to himself until he got home that night.

What was written on the piece of paper?

How was he able to make more sales than anybody else for so many years?

What was this high priced secret?

That night at home the auction winner locked himself in his room and opened the envelope,
unfolded the piece of paper and read the following seven words:

“The Secret to success is to ASK.”

And so it is with all our wants in real life, we must simply ASK for what we want.
We can’t even get a drink of water in a bar unless we first ask for it.
The answer to getting is always so obvious, yet we seen to overlook it.

We didn’t have this asking problem as a child because as a child, when you wanted something badly enough, you didn't settle for that first
"No," did you? Tell the truth, now did you? You asked, you pleaded, you cried, you pouted, you demanded, and you charmed your way into getting
that new toy, didn't you? You never gave up asking. Did you? You asked over and over.

Every single thing you ever want in your life is identical to that toy situation, that toy desire, the more you ask, the more you receive.
Sure as adults we shouldn’t act like kids and cry, scream and kick, but we must ask. We can’t be afraid to ask.

That new magician could book that first magic show if he would only ASK.

That experienced magician could easily book more shows beginning today if he would simply ASK more people.

Let me repeat that, the magician could book more shows if he would only……..

Ask yourself, are you asking enough? Are you asking for what you want? And remember, knowing that you should ask is not enough, you must come out and ask.

Contrary to what you've probably been taught all your life, knowledge is NOT power……. it is nothing more than potential power.

So if knowledge is only potential power, when exactly does it become power…...precisely what minute does it become power?

You guessed it… the exact and precise minute... that your knowledge is put to use.


Take care, stay inspired, keep asking, and I’ll see you next Sunday.

Tom

Thanks Tom.

Now and Zen I get it right.

Harris
reader & righter

Thanks Harris.


A famous 19th-century artist, by the name of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was approached by an elderly man.

The old man had some sketches and drawings that he wanted Rossetti to look at and tell him if they were any good,
or if they at least showed potential talent....

Rossetti looked over them carefully. After the first few, he knew that they were worthless but Rossetti was a kind man,
so he told the elderly man as gently as possible that the pictures were without much value and showed little talent. He was sorry,
but he could not lie to the man.

The man was disappointed but seemed to respect Rossetti’s judgment.....

The old man then apologized for taking up Rossetti’s time, but asked him to look at a few more drawings. Rossetti looked over the
second batch of sketches and immediately became enthusiastic over the talent they revealed. “These,” he said, “oh, these are good.”
“Yes I like these very much.”

Rossetti went on to say, “This young student has a great talent. He should be given help and encouragement. He has a great future.”

Rossetti could see that the old man was deeply moved so he asked, “Who is this fine young artist?” “Your son?”

“No,” said the old man sadly......

“It is me, 40 years ago. If only I had heard your praise then! For you see, I got discouraged and gave up too soon.”



Moral of the story: Not only is it important for us to not give up, our encouraging others can be important too.

Take care, stay inspired.

Tom

The REAL Secret To Customer Satisfaction


In my businxss somtimxs I gxt to thinking that what I do doxsn’t mattxr.

And that thx customxr sxrvicx part of my businxss is not rxally all that important.

But whxn I start thinking that way, I rxmxmbxr my old typxwritxr. Most of thx kxys workxd most of thx timx.

But onx day onx of thx kxys stoppxd working altogxthxr.

And that rxally mxssxd xvxrything up.

So whxn I’m txmptxd to say I’m only onx pxrson it would not makx much diffxrxncx if I didn’t do this xactly right,

I rxmxmbxr my old typxwritxr. And I say to mysxf:

“I am a kxy pxrson and what I do doxs mattxr vxry much.”

Providing good customxr sxrvicx just makxs good businxss sxnsx bxcausx customxr sxrvicx is thx lifxblood of any businxss.

Xvxry littlx dxtail mattxrs.






So you see, the REAL SECRET to great customer service is really not a secret, it’s just making sure that all the little things are working.

The key to a successful business is understanding that everyone is important and that all the little things do matter.

The things you do to provide great customer service are important.

Take care of the customers and they will take care of you.



Take care, stay inspired.

Tom

The above was adapted from the book ‘Inside the Magic Kingdom by Tom Connellan’ and used with the permission of the publisher.
The book is sometimes hard to find now, but I highly recommend it.

Tom,

I love your stories of inspiration. This last one reminds me of something that I constantly remind myself. If I take care of the small details now, the large ones usually take care of themselves. This applies to all areas of life. For instance, when it come to health and physical fitness, if I eat healthy, limit my meal portions, and exercise on a regular basis, I know that I won't ever need to go on a diet or have to set a goal to lose weight. Taking care of the small details now, takes care to the larger goal of being healthy and physically fit.

Lou Serrano

Thanks Lou.

Yes, it’s all about doing the little things. Sort of like putting a jigsaw puzzle together, you put it together one little piece at a time.
Fact is, that is the only way you can do it. The key is to stay focused on finding that one little needed piece, and as the picture grows with
each piece, it becomes easier to find each additional piece.

I too like the above missing key on the typewriter story. In the book, a business card was used and on one side the words, 'Everyone makes a
difference' spelled out as…....'Xvxryonx makxs a diffxrxncx.' And the back side in small print explained the missing typewriter key, making the front readable.

I once did a full letter to some employees using the same idea. It was well received.

Again I highly recommend the book, “Inside the Magic Kingdom, Seven Keys to Disney’s Success”
True the book is mainly about customer service, but then all business is about customers.
Businesses are build like buildings, one brick (customer) at a time.

Tom