Interviewee Name: John Klotz, President

Company Name: Northwood Mortgage Life Insurance Corporation

Website: http://www.northwoodmortgage.com

John Klotz – Your Invisible Mentor

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I’m an insurance and investment advisor and have been in the industry for close to 20 years. I own my own brokerage.

Avil Beckford: What has been your biggest disappointment in your life – and what are you doing to prevent its reoccurrence?

Earlier on in my life, I wanted to go to medical school or something like that, but it wasn’t in the cards for me. I learned about myself in that process that what I really wanted to be if you think about what a physician is, a physician is a trusted advisor regarding your health. It’s someone you go to about your health and generally what he says is supposed to be in your best interest and you should follow the advice. I think if I was to apply that to my life, I would say, as an advisor what you want to do is position yourself as that trusted advisor. So when you want into a doctor’s office they have diplomas on the wall saying basically that finished medical school that they are board certified, and are professional at what they are doing. If you walked into my office you’d see 20 plaques on my wall that would say the same thing.

So I guess a failure for me would be that I didn’t pursue something like that. I found something else and sort of took what I liked about that area and applied it to the profession I’m in now. And I would hope that if people are looking for a financial advisor that they’d want someone who is educated, who’s got designations and carries himself as a professional.

Avil Beckford: What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

I was a Senior Vice President at a downtown firm and was doing extremely well there. I made a decision to leave and form a partnership with Northwood Mortgage to set up their insurance company. It was a big decision because I was doing very well, earning a very comfortable living, and a lot of my expenses were being taken care of. But I knew that in my heart of heart that I wanted to run a brokerage. I wanted to be my own entity. I could stay there and continue to do well, or I could take a chance.

I actually went to my son who at the time was six and I said, “Jeremy, dad has a good job and he is doing really well and he likes the work, however he’ll never be the owner. But he can stay and be very happy or he can take a risk and go out and form his own company, but it might mean that for a while the presents I get you might not be as nice as you were getting before.” And this little six year old kid looks me in the eye and says, “Dad take a risk, go for it.”

I didn’t want to look back on my life and go, “I was scared,” because they have interviewed older people asked them, “What’s your one regret?” and their regret is that they didn’t take enough risks. And here was my shot, and by the way, it hasn’t been total smooth sailing. But now at least I have a lot of answers that I wouldn’t have had, had I stayed put.

Avil Beckford: What are three events that helped to shape your life?

I’m not sure I can answer that but I can say three things that changed my life. I come from a family of professionals. My grandfather was a doctor, my father was a surgeon, my eldest brother is a surgeon, and my two siblings are lawyers. I’m surrounded by people who work really hard. We’re a family that dedicated themselves to being the best, and that sort of moulded me, and I knew that I’d want to be in that circle as well.

I would say my family moulded me not to settle for things, to go for the gusto, and my father had a huge impact on me. My dad died about two years ago at the age of 83, but he worked as surgeon until he was about 81. His health really deteriorated and he really should have left a little earlier. But what I admired about him was that he just loved his work. He loved the interaction and it really killed him to retire.

So I have a real different view of retirement planning than most people. For other people it’s about acquiring a certain number of dollars in the bank and then saying, “Screw off” to everybody. To me retirement planning is not that at all, it is basically finding something that you love, pursuing it, maybe refining it during retirement by not doing as much of it or having more holiday time, but still sticking with your passion.

Avil Beckford: What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

• There are a few of them. One of them was I started a speaking series, Toronto Talks 10 years ago, and I put on an event every month. I’ve never really done a ton of public speaking, but I’ve always wanted to run a speaking series and I remember the first week we got the speaker and we threw out a bunch of emails about it. Fifty people were going to show up and I was going to emcee the thing. I remember being really nervous that first night. I practiced in front of a mirror and went over and over how I was going to present the speaker and what I was going to do. So that was 10 years ago and we hosted about 120 sessions, so I’m really proud that I was able to build something – a speaking series that a lot of people know about. And that’s been a really great thing.

• I’m proud of basically taking a risk and setting up this brokerage here at Northwood Life which took a lot of guts, and I’m still building it and there is still a lot or work to do.

• I’m most proud of my kids, I have two young children and I have a very solid marriage and I’m really proud of that when I see everyone around me divorcing and splitting up. I’ve got the most solid marriage and I have two amazing kids, and I would put this at the top of everything.

Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?

I’ve always had mentor. One of the mentors I have now is my partner Art Appleberg, who has basically taken Northwood Mortgage the brokerage he started 20 years ago and grew it into a 200 person sales force. We’ve set up a model on the insurance side that is similar to but not identical to the mortgage brokerage business. But I’m trying to follow – Art is full of all this wisdom – how to build a brokerage. He has done it on the brokerage side and I’m doing it on the insurance and investment side. He is a great mentor so it’s always good to go in and tell him what’s working and what’s not. The thing about mentors is that it’s not all about glory. You also have to talk about what’s not working. That’s been really great for me.

I’ve had other mentors along the way. At my last employment the owner and I were very tight and I always talked to him about how I would do things. Mentors have always helped me.

Avil Beckford: What’s one core message you received from your mentors?

Never say die, constantly improve, and that whole kaizen that the Japanese constantly look for better ways to do things. Always keep your eyes open, always act professionally like I told you about that “Good Loser” letter. That’s professional, if a client says, “I don’t want you as my adviser,” instead of being snotty, respond with a “Good Loser” letter. I never send angry emails, ever. I’ve received them, but I never send them because that’s on record forever.

Avil Beckford: An invisible mentor is a unique leader you can learn things from by observing them from afar, in the capacity of an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?

There are different readers, so let’s say I’m thinking about someone who is going into a career. One of the things that I did is that I wrote down a list of the things that I wanted in a career. And I knew when I entered this business that I wanted something with an education path; that was important to me. And I knew that I wanted something where there was no limit to your upside potential. And I knew that I wanted something where I could grow old with my clients so it wasn’t always a new sale every week it was about building relationships. And I didn’t want things like territories, but I wanted to be able to move all over the place. And I wanted something with real scope.

I wrote that 20 years ago, I created that list, I wanted an education path, I wanted a career with no limit on the ceiling, I wanted open territories and I wanted the opportunity to be a professional, to really embrace something. So what I would say to people listening to this is if you are looking at some sort of career, whatever, I would say know what you want because if you know what you want you will pursue it.

One of the failures I had is a job that didn’t work out, they let me go. I was selling office equipment and I didn’t enjoy it. So 20 years ago, I wrote down what I wanted in a new career, so I would say know what you want, write it down and set a plan.

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

A lot of marketing that you do in insurance can be personal. A lot of people join golf clubs to meet people. We ski every weekend. I really try at times to keep my business and personal life separate. I let everyone who I’m friends with know what I’m doing but I try not to be in their face. There are people in my field who can be in your face and that has always bothered me. I definitely try to keep my kids away from the business. I don’t want them to see me as this prospecting animal. You can work all the time in this business, it’s interesting, the people are interesting, and the clients are interesting. My challenge is that I need to turn it off when I go home, and that’s the question I’d like to address. When I go home, I’m there for my kids and my family. We go skiing, I’m there for them and I try and turn it off.

Avil Beckford: What’s a major regret that you’ve had in life?

I don’t have any. My life is evolving, I’m proud of it and I’m able to keep my family in a certain lifestyle, I feel professionally fulfilled, I own my own business and I’m good. I don’t have those big regrets.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

1. I need to work with people I like, and that’s a great lesson. I’d rather take a lousy opportunity with great people than a great opportunity with lousy people because if you are with great people you’ll synergize, you’ll figure it out, you’ll go forward and you’ll have great fun.
2. Stick-to-it-tiveness  - I’ve been doing this for 20 years and what I’m finding as I get older and mature, instead of being cast to the side I’m getting better and better at it and getting more established.
3. Find something that you love.
4. You can’t judge something right away, you have to give it a year till you can even think about judging it. I wasn’t sure I would love this business, but I wrote down what I wanted and I gave it a year and within two weeks, by the way, of being in the insurance and investment industry I loved it and knew that this was exactly what I wanted to do.
5. Set long term goals and give things a chance.

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

We are a family of skiers, we like to ski. I’m dedicated to my two kids and that’s my downtime and it’s really important for me that they grow up well balanced, respectful and educated and I’ll do anything for them. Unfortunately sometimes I need a little bit more downtime that just for me, so I try to keep physically fit and try to read a lot. I’m constantly taking courses for improvement so that’s kind of my downtime.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Sometimes just setting time aside to think about them. Great ideas require downtime. It requires just sitting in your office or a beach. I find when I go away on holidays sometimes my best ideas come then.

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

Just do it – Nike

Avil Beckford: How do you define success?

I think there are many levels of success. There is this thing called “top of the table” in the business where you are “top of the table” and they say there is no point to be on the top of the table if there is no one there to sit with you. I thought that was great so it’s not just about financial success. I think you need to have family success, and you need to be around people you care about.

Avil Beckford: In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

I think it’s finding something that you are truly passionate about and creating a plan.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Related posts:

1. The Invisible Mentor Interviews John Klotz, President Northwood Mortgage Life Insurance Corporation
2. The Invisible Mentor Interviews John Kremer Part II
3. The Invisible Mentor Interviews John Kremer, The Bookmarketing Go-to-It Guy
4. The Invisible Mentor Interviews Steve Spalding Part Two
5. The Invisible Mentor Interviews Diane Danielson Part II

Here is Part Two of Donna Whitney’s interview and I hope that you’ve had the time to digest Part One. I know that it’s a lot of content but it’s loaded with solid information that you can use. After I transcribed Donna’s interview, I realized that it was the first time that anyone had really mapped out their career path for all to see. The “Tell me a little bit about yourself” is very detailed and has a lot of depth. It was interesting to see how someone moved from one role to the next and sometimes the reasons for the decision. Instead of trying to summarize it and taking out germane information, I have included it at the end and called it Anatomy of  a Career. You get a glimpse of Donna the pioneer, who gets a sense that something is going to take off so she positions herself to take advantage of the the upcoming change. After you’ve read her interview, and especially the Anatomy of a Career you will feel as if you know her. And that’s what I am trying to do with the Invisible Mentor, I want you to get to know the interviewees, and learn from them.

How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Every step of the way. Every single aspect of my professional life is my personal life, and every single aspect of my personal life is my professional life. I think leaders, their values and what they stand for, who they are from 5:00 pm to 9:00 am the next day matters. Who I am in my personal life ought to be the same, and my values ought to be consistent with my professional life.

What’s a major regret that you’ve had in life?

I wouldn’t say that I’ve had many major regrets, but there are an awful lot of things that I regret. I would have loved my husband to be the only man that I ever dated. And, I think it would have been good if I hadn’t spent so much time on the music side, and invested a lot more time in technology sooner. I don’t know if I could call these regrets, but if I could then that would be it.

What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

1. Speak less listen more
2. Be gracious, turn the other cheek
3. It’s okay to be last, there is no shame in being last
4. If you can be a light for someone be that light
5. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

I love baking bread from scratch, not a bread machine. The stuff that takes 1 ½ weeks to make, I love doing that.

What process do you use to generate great ideas?

I don’t ever do it alone, I always include people.

What’s your favourite quotation and why?

“What if you believe that what you really believe is real, what difference would it make?” Dr. Del Tackett

How do you define success?

Being in adherence to the value system and the truth that you know and believe. It’s living your life in accordance with what you know to be true.

In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Serving.

What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

I took risks and I wasn’t afraid to say what I knew to be true, and I wasn’t afraid to give over the spotlight when appropriate.

What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Experiment, try different things, see where things go because it will never go the way you expect it to, and be true to yourself.

If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

1. Jesus Christ and I would say thank you
2. Apostle Paul and I would want to be instructed by him. He was a profound writer and a huge hero of the faith, and I would love to hear and understand, and ask him to explain some of the things he said in the scriptures
3. John Calvin
4. Mother Teresa and I would love to listen and hear what she had to say
5. Helen Keller and I would not have much to say to her, I would just want to listen. Her wisdom and perspective on things would be profound

Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply? Did you have an emotional or intellectual attachment to this book? Why?

I would say that it’s the Bible because it’s a pretty impactful book.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Summarize the book in two sentences.

1. The Bible
2. A book with a rubber dingy
3. The Iliad
4. War and Peace
5. A book by Ray Bradbury, something I haven’t read yet by him

Have you read any books that inspired you to start a business, service or invent “something”? If yes, which book?

The Bible changed my heart, there are certain parts that really moved me.

What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?

The movie would be The Gospel According to John and the music CD, I would take my iPod with stuff that I liked and stuff that I had never listened to.

What excites you about life?

The prospect of what comes after.

How do you nurture your soul?

Keep myself in proper perspective, that it’s not about me.

If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for? Or, if I gave you a magic wand, what would you use it for?

That every wish that I wish would come true.

Complete the following, I am happy when…..

I’m serving.

Anatomy of a Career

When I was a little girl I wanted to be either a singer or a nun. I opted for the singing since that was easier to do than try to be perfect. I started singing when I was six or seven years old. I was a pretty rebellious kid and I was out of control. I started smoking when I was 11 years old and started going to bars when I was 12.

I started off my career in rock bands back in the 80s when I was 16 singing in bars. I found out quickly that being five feet three inches and 110 pounds, blond hair, blue eyes did not fit the profile of somebody who would be hugely successful with her talents alone. In that industry in the 80s was pretty nasty actually, the whole agent scene, bar scene was not a welcoming or supportive environment.

I met my first agent when I was 16 and taking vocal training. I walked into his office, and this was well before there were personal computers. In his office, he had this massive wooden desk with a telephone and a photocopy joke with a baby and a smelly diaper, which said, “Agents are like diapers, they’re always on your ass and usually full of shit.” Pardon my language, this was my introduction to the music industry, this was what the music scene was going to be like.

He had told me to bring in my demo tape, which I did, and I sat down and he put it into the tape player and walked out of the room. I sat there and listened to my own demo tape, when he came back into the room he sat down and looked to see if the tape was finished.

He said, “That was great”

I said, “Okay,”

“Let’s talk business. How short will you wear your skirt?”

I replied, “I’m16 years old, I’m selling my voice not my body.”

“You’re a smart girl, that’s a good answer. Have you thought about modeling?”

I’m five feet three inches, I’m not a model so I was taken aback, but I wasn’t stupid either so I said, “Well, I’m only going to model for the right bathing suit at the worst, you understand that, right?”

“Oh you’re such a smart girl, such a smart girl. Have you ever thought of doing European pictures, no one here will ever see them? $1,500 a picture.”

That’s a lot of money now, mind back in the 80s when I’m 16 years old, and my idea of full-time work is McDonald’s. I realized what he was saying so I thanked him for his time and got up and walked out of his office. I left music, and after that it was really hard for me. When you have no life experience and you’ve lived on the planet for only 16 years your own context of who you are is bound up on what little life experience you have, so walking away from music, for me was hugely tragic, because it was all I ever understood. I was never a really good student, so that whole experience really threw me for a loop and I decided then that I didn’t want to be what the pop culture would have me be. I didn’t want to be stupid, and I didn’t want to be a dumb girl, and I didn’t want to be a sex object.

That was all I ever wanted was to be in music, and all they ever wanted from me was to be something that I wasn’t. So when I quit music, my whole little world view was shaken, I mean it seems so silly now, because it was so many years ago but it was a really tragic event for me. A couple of years passed and I found myself moving away from the music side, and I found myself working behind the bar.

I bar tended for about eight years, and the bar life is entirely different when you are behind the bar than when you’re in front, and bar tending terrified me. It terrified me because I would see the same people coming in every weekend doing the same thing, beating themselves up, destroying their lives, and for some reason they seemed to think that this was appealing, and being a bar tender you learned to say the right things to earn tips. I never learned anybody’s name, I certainly learned what they drank and I probably still know what they drink to this very day. And bar tending convinced me to not drink. I completely avoided the night scene during the years when most people were discovering it.

Through the bar tending experience I also learned that I wanted to be more than that. So I started studying, pulled my grades up, and graduated with honours. After high school, I took a year off and saved some money, then went to university. I was in Winnipeg at the time, and went to University of Winnipeg, and then I went to Red River College, and I graduated with both a marketing and administration major.

Immediately after school, and while I was still bar tending, I got the sense that this Internet thing was going to take off, and I had no idea what it was about, and a girl friend of mine that came to the pub that I worked at was running a wild bird feed and specialty store so I offered to create a website when one of the first websites were coming out. It had one picture and took half an hour to download. I convinced her to hire me, so I started working at this wild bird feed and specialty shop designing websites and doing the newsletter, and that job launched my career.

As soon as I graduated, I ended up at Rogers Wireless in Winnipeg, and my job there was marketing collateral design, and it had everything to do with the fact that I had designed websites and the newsletter for this small wild bird feed and specialty shop. I did that as a term position while someone was on maternity leave. Also, while I was in college, I took advantage of a mentoring program, and had gotten to know a couple of business leaders in the Winnipeg market. And at the end of the maternity leave position at Rogers, I walked into one of those mentors, and at one of his workplaces he was running a multi-platform service provider called Tronica so they did Sun Microsystems, IBM, Mac. They were one of the few systems integration businesses back in Winnipeg so he took me on as a program manager, whatever that meant, and still to this day I don’t understand what the role was, but I think he saw that I was really ambitious and wanted to help me out so he gave me a job.

I worked there for about six months then Rogers took me back, so I left Tronica. I went into business and corporate so I was supporting major corporate clients such as the provincial government. I did that for about eight months then they stuck me back into the vortex that’s  marketing and I was doing event management, and I would probably still be doing event management to this day because I loved it.

My husband Clinton had always wanted to be a police officer. When I worked in the bar he was a bouncer and we had hooked up and been together for many years. He’d applied to the Winnipeg police at least eight times, and it’s an eight month process to find out that you hadn’t been accepted. He kept applying, and he kept on getting rejected. He decided that he would apply one last time, and this time he decided not to limit himself so he applied to Winnipeg, Calgary, Toronto and also applied to the RCMP. It was so close to it being the end of his dream, I’ll never forget it.

The AT&T Senior Opens where I was coordinating the Senior Opens for Rogers in Winnipeg, it was absolutely nuts. We couldn’t get anybody to drive people around. There were no limos available because of a premier’s convention so I had to go to Ford and get seven Chevy Blazers. I hired all my dad’s friends to drive all these people around because we couldn’t get any chauffeurs. I was short one chauffeur so I was driving people around. This was my job for the week and during the week, my husband Clinton got a call, and he heard that he was hired in Toronto.

So as I’m driving people around, I get word that my life in Winnipeg is now over and we had to move to Toronto. We got married on August 26, 2000 and he left for Toronto August 27^th. He moved early because he had to get sworn in, and he went to the OPC for four months. So for the first four months of my married life, I was apart from my husband. He was here in Toronto and I was in Winnipeg trying to wrap things up for my move to Toronto.

So we moved to Toronto, and Rogers offered me a job but it wasn’t ideal so I ended up moving to another company called Watts, which was in the fulfillment, logistics and distribution business. I knew nothing about fulfillment, logistics and distribution. Watts no longer exists, but while I was there I was doing program development and management, and my client was Rogers. I was at Watts for 18 months then someone from Rogers who had gotten to know me through that work, brought me back to Rogers in 2001.

I joined the business marketing team at One Mount Pleasant. I never really fit into the large corporate organization, and I still don’t fit in. It’s just that I love it here, they treat me good, and I don’t know why they keep me here. I didn’t fit into the corporate marketing niche and I ended up doing new product development stuff, and was really very comfortable with the unknown, the strange, the sort of gray area. They knew it was an interesting skill set but it didn’t really fit anywhere so I got promoted out of marketing into Office of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer), where I worked for David Robinson. So I moved from marketing to engineering.

In the office of the CTO which is an engineering division, I was in a newly created office so I had done Wi-Fi development, I had created the Canadian Hotspot Roaming Alliance with my counterparts from Bell, Telus and Fido which was separate at the time (Rogers now owns Fido) and we started working on a global commerce initiative as well, which was a lot of fun and exciting, but I came to realize very quickly that if Wi-Fi was going to make any sense at all there needed to be some sort of presence within cable because cable was the back of the Internet which would feed all the Internet connections, so I parachuted out of the Office of the CTO into cable marketing and proceeded to work on product management for Wi-Fi within cable marketing.

Being a square peg in a round hole I got motivated out of cable marketing and into sales so I figure I’ve got IT and Finance left, so I’ll probably cover all of Rogers before I am done here.

Now I run a sales engineering team within Rogers Cable selling things like voice and data services into personal properties, so by commercial I mean hotels, student residences, large sports and entertainment facilities. I’m allowed to play where consumer cable products won’t do the trick because they don’t want me competing against the large machines. And that’s sort of what I do now.

What are your thoughts on this interview? What was expected and what was unexpected? What did you learn from Anatomy of a Career? Do you capitalize on the opportunities that come your way? What are 10 takeaways? How can you apply this information? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentorand subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

Related posts:

1. The Invisible Mentor Interviews Donna Whitney
2. The Invisible Mentor Interviews Gina McAdam Part 2
3. The Invisible Mentor Interviews John Kremer Part II
4. The Invisible Mentor Interviews Diane Danielson Part II
5. The Invisible Mentor Interviews Mary Lou Fallis Part Two

This is Part 2 of Paul’s interview. When reading this interview,  think about ways to apply his wisdom. What is the formula for success? For Paul, it is to figure out what you are passionate about and find a way to do it? The book that profoundly impact him is Brand You 50 by Tom Peters. This is unusual because most people are not impacted by business books. Which book has profoundly impacted you?

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Paul Copcutt, a transported Brit, came to Canada in 1996 with the biotech company I was working with to follow a Canadian and convince her to marry me. Started my company Square Peg in 2004 as a recruitment company but always with the intention of doing something more involving personal branding because what I had been doing in a corporate career was personal branding there was just not the name for it.  Now that is all I do, personal branding for individuals, inside corporations and speaking on the topic.

How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

They are intertwined all the time because I work from home and in my work and speeches I use personal examples to communicate the message of personal branding.

What’s a major regret that you’ve had in life?

Not having my mother around to see her grandchildren.

What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

1. There is no such thing as a free lunch
2. The easiest route is sometimes the right one.
3. It does not have to be perfect. Learn from both mistakes and successes.
4. It’s okay to say no and sometimes you have to have tough conversations.
5. Sometimes it is personal, not just business, so be respectful of that.

When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

With my family. Catching up on reading. Enjoying the outdoors.

What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Mind mapping. Also going to a favourite place and reflecting on what I am trying to do and thinking with an open mind, jotting down whatever comes in to it.

What’s your favourite quotation and why?

“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you will help them become what they are capable of becoming.” Johann Goethe

It sums up what I believe personal branding has the capability of doing for everyone.

How do you define success? –

Being rewarded for doing what you love to do and that lets you lead the life you want to live.

In your opinion what’s the formula for success? -

Find out what you are passionate about and figure out a way to live a life doing it.

What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

1. Reach out to those I saw as successful in the field and ask for their advice.
2. Personal and professional development through reading, programs, training and sharing of ideas.
3. Collaboration.
4. Helping others.

What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Find a mentor and find the time to mentor someone yourself.

If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

With the way that the world is so connected now this is way more possible than most people appreciate or realize. I think you can do much of this yourself. So I would more likely choose people who are now gone.

1. My mother – what was I like as a toddler and see how comparable that was to my own experiences of my children growing up.
2. Winston Churchill – to understand what leadership meant to him and what made him persevere.
3. Mother Teresa – to appreciate sacrifice and for my own humility
4. Martin Luther King – to understand what drove him to do what he did.
5. Queen Elizabeth the First – how a woman was able to reign for so long

Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply? Did you have an emotional or intellectual attachment to this book? Why?

Tom Peters – Brand You 50. This was one of the very first books on personal branding and started my journey. As soon as I read it I realized what he was talking about was what I had done in my career and explained a lot. It was probably more emotional because it spoke to my belief that you can do what you want to do if you put your mind and efforts to it.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Summarize the book in two sentences.

1. Book of quotations – for daily insight and inspiration
2. Dictionary – to learn a new word everyday and find a context to use it
3. Suduko – because I like logical puzzles to keep my mind active
4. Encyclopedia of World Religions – to understand the basis of all human cultures
5. War and Peace (Vintage Classics) – because I never finished it for English Literature class.

What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?

Music – Mozarts 40^th – my Dad used to play classical music every Sunday lunch, his attempt at having us appreciate classical music.

Film – Kind Hearts & Coronets – black and white English comedy where Sir Alec Guinness plays eight different characters. Great plot, Guinness is a genius and the perfect comedic twist at the end.

What excites you about life?

At the moment I am just scratching the surface of what is possible with personal branding. So much more to do.

How do you nurture your soul?

I do not know if I do enough now to say I nurture it. Something I am working on.

If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for? Or, if I gave you a magic wand, what would you use it for?

Make every country capable of being self sufficient in food.

Complete the following, I am happy when…..

My children continue to believe that anything is possible.

What nuggets of wisdom have you gleaned from Paul’s interview? How might you apply his responses to your situation.

Keep the conversation flowing. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

For your research and writing needs, consider my firm Ambeck Enterprise for white papers, articles, fact sheets, anniversary booklets, you name it. Since I am the best kept secret you may not know this, but I have over 15 years research and writing experience. I KNOW content. And if you cannot figure out which books to read for professional development, I am your WOMAN, I can assist you with that too.

Related posts:

1. The Invisible Mentor Interviews Paul Copcutt
2. The Invisible Mentor Interviews Gina McAdam Part 2
3. The Invisible Mentor Interviews Duke Redbird, First Nations Ojibwe Elder Part Two
4. The Invisible Mentor Interviews Ron LeBlanc, Chairman of Madacana, Part Two
5. The Invisible Mentor Interviews Shannon Van Roekel, Author of Desert Fire Part Two

These interviews are meant to provide you with useful information that you can use. In this segment of the interview, Shannon shares the three threats to her business, why her service is unique, how she integrates her personal and professional life, five life lessons she has learned so far and a whole lot more.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I am married, with five children, two of which are getting married within the next 6 months. Lately I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night “angsting” over table centerpieces, floral arrangements and crash diets.

What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?

Three threats to my business and success would be

1. Not placing God first.
2. Lack of discipline
3. Getting distracted (can you spell f-a-c-e-b-o-o-k?)

I handle these threats, more or less, depending on the day, by starting it with God, keeping a day planner and working through the tasks I set for myself one at a time. Keep on doing the next thing.

What’s unique about the service that you provide?

I like to weave a story around a real issue, not normally in our radar, that will hopefully, not only inform and entertain, but also lead readers to compassion and empathy. Information dumps have caused us to shut down to the need, because we are intimidated by the enormity of the situation—especially in the third world arena. I believe touching hearts through the power of these stories can pull one out of that inertia into a state of true identification and hope.

What do you observe most people in your field doing badly that you think you do well?

OK. Tricky question. I am new to the whole “published author” thing, so cannot speak with experience, but I constantly pray that I do not lose sight of the importance of my relationships with my husband and kids in the light of being published and the extra demands it brings to my life.

How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Relationships are more important to me than business. By choice. I have found, possibly due to the decision to put people first, a greater interest in the issues I am writing about and the professional aspects of my life from those closest to me.

What’s a major regret that you’ve had in life?

Causing pain to others; to see family splinter and break apart and not be able to fix it.

What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

1. Ask God for help, the sooner the better.
2. Forgiveness is always easier than resentment—and healthier.
3. I can forgive myself all I want, but unless God has forgiven me, I get no peace.
4. Nobody is free from insecurity or dysfunctions. Some are just better at hiding it.
5. Life doesn’t last forever so speak the truth.

When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

With a good book. And I love to listen to great music and just move to it…

What process do you use to generate great ideas?

I ask God to give me His ideas, which are better than mine all the time. Then I wait. Eventually something begins that I can only describe as brain percolation. It’s this craziness of ideas and connections that bubble up and spill over into story.

What’s your favourite quotation and why?

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me.” –Jesus (John 14:6)

I don’t like being lost, lied to or living without a purpose. In this quotation I find the remedy.

How do you define success?

Success is more than good living; it is living in agreement with God’s purpose for your life.

In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Without a doubt it is to trust God and obey Him.

What excites you about life?

Watching God

How do you nurture your soul?

Same as above

If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for? Or, if I gave you a magic wand, what would you use it for?

To pay off the mortgage

Complete the following, I am happy when…..

I’m just moving through normal and then something happens that is so perfect and surprising and good, like autumn leaves falling or a baby’s toothless smile or the first taste of a mandarin orange, and I think, “Thank You.”

How might you apply the information from this interview? Let’s keep the conversation going, please comment.

Related posts:

1. The Invisible Mentor Interviews Shannon Van Roekel, Author of Desert Fire
2. The Invisible Mentor Interviews Don Martelli, Vice President, MS&L Part Two
3. Invisible Mentor Desert Island Books for December 2009
4. The Invisible Mentor’s Desert Island Books
5. Interview With Best-Selling Author Leslie Householder

There are many lessons around us, if we but take the time to BE instead of DO. Many of these lessons we can learn from successful people, many who are further along the path that we are traveling, or have already completed the journey.

Have you ever wondered what makes a highly accomplished individual tick? I have! I have also wondered what motivates them and how they stay motivated. Over the past five years, I have interviewed over a hundred successful people, and one of the many questions that I ask them is “What is your favorite quotation and why?”

These individuals love a good quote, and they have that special one which resonates with them down to their core. They often use that quote for inspiration, and have it in plain sight where they can readily see it. One individual indicated that he has been using the same quote for inspiration for over 20 years. Quotes are very important to these people and serve many functions in their lives.

Over the years I have learned from these very successful interviewees, and I would like to share some of what I have learned with you. I have culled 10 powerful quotes, and have also included the reasons why they resonate with the interviewees.

After you have read the quotes, you will better understand these people, and I am sure you will agree that the quotes will also add a touch of brilliance to your communications.

Stephanie MacKendrick’s Favorite Quote and Why

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Meade

The quote says that change can happen from every one of us, from small groups. It doesn’t have to be a big project, a big organization with a big mission or mandate. We can all contribute to changing.

Maria Nemeth’s Favorite Quote and Why

“Miracles rest not so much upon healing power coming suddenly near us from afar, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for the moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what has been there around us always.” Willa Cather

It’s a wonderful quote about miracles. People think that miracles are things that happen to us suddenly from on high. I like this quote because it’s hopeful, it says that I do not have to do anything extraordinary. All I need to do is wake up and see what’s been here waiting for me all the time.

Jim Rohn‘s Favorite Quote and Why

“Nothing can resist a human will that will stake even its existence on the extent of its purpose.” Benjamin Disraeli

This quote challenges the human spirit to ultimate possibility – give it all you’ve got. Become all you were designed to become. It simply means do or die.

Suzanne Gibson’s Favorite Quote and Why

“What stirs the mind or touches the heart, will undoubtedly move the feet.” Donald Murphy

I feel an affinity to the quote because I am overwhelmed by all that’s going on in the world, and I often wonder what I can do as one person. This quote tells me that if we can inspire others and feed their hearts and stimulate their minds we can motivate action for positive change.

Gail Blanke’s Favorite Quote and Why

“There is no way it is, there is only the way you say it is. The universe hasn’t made up its mind about you. It only knows what you show it today. You are the Inventor; your life is the invention. You get to make it up, so make it up good.” Gail Blanke, Between Trapezes

This is my favorite quote because I’m passionate about persuading people that they get to decide how good their life will be!

Gabriel Draven’s Favorite Quote and Why

“To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.” Mark Twain

“There are two things you need for success: courage and ignorance.” Gabriel Draven (Inspired by Mark Twain)

This modified quote has kept on coming back to me over the past couple of years, and it’s pretty dead on.

Claire Hoy’s Favorite Quotes and Why

“Worrying about something is like paying interest on a debt that you don’t even know if you owe.” Mark Twain

“It ain’t over till it’s over.” Yogi Berra

I view both quotes as great life lessons. In Mark Twain’s case he is saying that if you are going around and worrying and fretting how badly something is going to turn out, almost all the time it never turns out as badly as you perceived. In Berra’s case, if you don’t throw up your hands when things go wrong, but think it ain’t over and that you still have a chance, anything is possible.

Amelia Kassel’s Favorite Quote and Why

“There is nothing to fear but fear itself.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

It is so easy to feel fear when you are starting a business or taking risks. In life, you face many situations where it’s easy to feel fearful. This quote reminds me that I can do things that I wouldn’t otherwise try.

These quotes are not only instructive, but inspiring as well. What lessons might you learn from the quotes and the interviewees? And, in what ways might you use them?

Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please comment!

Related posts:

1. 10 Great Quotes You Are Unlikely to Find Elsewhere
2. What is your favorite quotation? Why?