The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Influential Books’

Interviewee Name: Andrew Warner

Company Name: Mixergy.com

Website: http://www.mixergy.com

Andrew Warner – Your Invisible Mentor & Workshop Leader

Part One, Part Two, Part Three of the Interview

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Andrew Warner: I founded a company called Mixergy.com and that’s where I interview entrepreneurs about how they built their businesses, and I do it for an audience of rabid entrepreneurs who are eager to soak up as much information as they can from other entrepreneurs about how they built their businesses. These are people who know about Hulu.com and know that they could be watching The Simpsons, Family Guy and whatever nonsense they could be watching on TV, but they choose to watch a program where entrepreneurs are talking about business instead.

Avil Beckford: How do you define success?

Andrew Warner: Having a vision and making it real.

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

Andrew Warner: I don’t have a formula but what I’ve learned is showing up every day helps a lot. I used to stink at being on camera, I used to stink at speaking in public and I started doing interviews every day and when I stunk one day I knew I had to do it tomorrow and I couldn’t hide from it and say, “No, I’m bad, I can’t do this right.” I have to find a way to do it tomorrow and I have to find a way to learn so that I wouldn’t be so bad the next day and the next day after that. And so doing it everyday let’s me avoid my personal insecurities, and learn and grow.

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

Andrew Warner: Showing up every day. Even when I started out as an entrepreneur earlier on, my friends who didn’t have jobs, or happen to have a day off would ask me to go and hang out, and I remember saying, “I’m working, why are you even asking,” and they’d say, “Because you’re not really working, you’re working for yourself, you don’t have a boss. There is no reason for you to show up today, you can show up tomorrow. You can always make up for it the next day. Or do work on the weekends or in the evenings.” And if you start doing that you never really catch up. But if you show up for every single day, and you think about your job as a mission then you do grow every day. And everyone around you starts to respect what you’re doing, as you respect it yourself.

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

Andrew Warner: Show up every single day. If you do something every single day you’ll get better and better.

Avil Beckford: 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?

Andrew Warner: Bill Gates and Warren Buffet put together The Giving Pledge, a list of rich people who are giving away their money. I would take any five people from that list and say to them, “Giving up your money is great to charity after you’re dead, but what’s even more valuable than money is the knowledge in your head, and the ideas.”

I read the list of all those people and by and large most of them didn’t start off with money. They made their money along the way, and credited that to some insight, some understanding of the world, and of progress in the world that others don’t have. And if all they do is share their money and not their vision or insight, not the knowledge that got them there I think they are really robbing themselves and the world of the most valuable thing that they have.

If you die you cannot take your money with you, it might even go to the government, or the wrong place, it will go somewhere if you didn’t give it away. But if you die and don’t teach someone, that disappears for good and we’re never going to get that back.

I would say let’s find any five people on that list and I would try to convince them to openly and honestly without any hesitation to share what they know and without any fear of coming off bad.

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Andrew Warner: The biggest one id Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. Before I picked up that book I used to watch movies like Wall Street where the hero/villain in the movie, the rich guy, says things like, “Greed is good,” treats people like garbage, and pushes them around. And he gets better and more successful because of that, and we see that a lot in movies and TV shows, and we read a lot about people like that in books and newspapers and we get the sense that the bully is the one who would become the most successful. And I was willing to do anything and if that’s what it took, I was willing to do it.

What I discovered in business is that just doesn’t work because people then fight you back instead of working with you because people don’t choose to partner with you or buy from you because they don’t feel inspired by you and they don’t want to be associated with someone who is going to bully them.

So if that doesn’t work, I’m lost. There are no more movies, no more magazines that are going to teach me the right way. I went to the Strand Bookstore, a used bookstore in New York, and I got a copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People. The book had such a dorky title that in order to buy it, to take it to the counter, I sandwiched it between two other books that I thought looked cooler, two other novels. I bought the book and one of the premises is everyone has an ego, and you’re not the only one who thinks he’s special, every one has that and if you’re trying to out ego everyone else, you’re going to get into a battle that’s going to waste your time. If you respect that everyone has a sense of individuality, ego and personal greatness and you help them get that and you treat them like they have that then they are going to want to work with you and get more of that.

Once I read that book it had such a profound influence on me that everything in my life started to change. I was able to work with people, able to relate with people, I was able to get inspired by them and then I said this is so great I’m going to knock on Dale Carnegie’s door, volunteer to work for the organization for free and learn even more. Sure enough I did and my life has been way impacted because of that. I wouldn’t be able to talk to people if not for that. I wouldn’t be able to bring them around to my mission.

Avil Beckford: 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.

Andrew Warner:

1. Jessica Livingston’s Founders at Work because it’s full of great stories with deep insights in them and I feel I could spend a lot of time re-reading it.
2. I would pick a novel by Jeffrey Archer about business because those books tend to be long and they tend to have people who are trying to achieve stuff. I’d  probably take Kane and Abel.
3. Psycho-Cybernetics, A New Way to Get More Living Out of Life by Maxwell Maltz because I feel like I’d want to find a way to control my mind while I was there.
4. The Bible and every bible because if somebody found me I’d like to say, “Look I’m a pious person, I have a copy of every Bible,” then they’d want to help me out.
5. A blank notebook because I’d want to sit down and just write.

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

Andrew Warner: The music CD would have to be rap because it is inspiring. I don’t know if it’s called Hip-Hop because I’m not cool enough to know this but there is always something great going on in their lives. And there are so many words being thrown at me so I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them, so that would give me something to do on the deserted island to sit there and try to figure out what all the words are. I feel like I could sing along to it whereby I couldn’t sing along to any other kind of music.

If you cannot view the YouTube Kanye West Video of Stronger click here.

If you cannot view the 50 cent YouTube video of Straight to the Bank click here.

For the movie I would say Doctor Zhivago, I haven’t seen that, it’s very long and I think I could spend forever watching that.

If you cannot view the YouTube video trailer of Doctor Zhivago click here.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Andrew Warner: The possibilities. I love that we can think of something in the shower one day and try it out and have it work and work and work or fail and fail and fail, but eventually see it in real life. And that’s really exciting, something you dream about to happen in your life.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Andrew Warner: Vacations! Somehow going away to someplace brand new opens me up to think about new ideas and to think about the world in a new way.

Avil Beckford: 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?

Andrew Warner: More wishes.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

Andrew Warner: It works out.

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.

Book links are affiliate links.

Interviewee Name: David Gray

Company Name: DSG Associates

Website: http://www.davidgraycoach.com

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

David Gray: My personal and professional life are seamless in the sense that I work almost every day and I set my own hours, so one blends into the other in that respect.  On the other hand, I make a very clear distinction between clients and friends.  Sometimes one becomes the other and vice versa, but for the most part my private life is just that.

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

David Gray: I regret not having traveled the world when I was in my twenties instead of jumping right into a career.

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

David Gray:

1. Treat everyone as a friend unless or until they give you reason not to do so
2. Seek to understand and only then to be understood
3. Be completely trustworthy, as trust is the foundation for all true relationships
4. Be true to yourself
5. Treat everyone with dignity and respect, but be especially gentle with the old, the young, the weak and the less fortunate

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

David Gray: I spend my “down-time” in one of four ways:  thinking/reflecting on my own; working out physically at the gym or at home; reading; with close friends, usually one-to-one.

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

David Gray: Take the situation, consider the conventional wisdom and then try to turn it on its head and see what comes up.  In other words, think in a consciously contrarian style.

Avil Beckford:  How do you define success?

David Gray: Success as I define it is an intensely personal and individual reality.  For me personally, success fundamentally consists in being true to my own ideals and life philosophy while engaging in a genuine way with clients and friends such that they feel enriched for having spent time with me.

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

David Gray: The formula for success is simple:  Chase your dreams, not other people’s ideas of success.

Avil Beckford:  What does it take to succeed in your field?

David Gray: To be successful in my field one typically needs empathy, compassion, a conscientious work ethic and a background in HR.  However, to be truly outstanding one additionally needs a great degree of life history in a variety of business settings as well as a high degree of intuitive and innovative intelligence in order to be able to work with people from numerous diverse backgrounds who are each struggling with very individual career and life challenges.  In a word, one needs wisdom.  And typically, that can only be accumulated over a long period of time after encountering a variety of challenging situations in one’s own career and life.

Avil Beckford:  Which one book had a profound impact on your life?

David Gray: Hero of a Thousand Faces by the great mythologist, Joseph Campbell.  He taught me to ‘follow my bliss.’

Avil Beckford:  If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Give a brief summary of each book.

David Gray:

• Don Quixote, by Miguel De Cervantes:  The first modern novel, this book revolutionized the imaginative approach to the then core myth of Chivalry, itself a central concept in most European’s self-construct.  This book reminds us never to take at face value the assumptions of the society in which we happen to live because of vagaries of our birth in a particular geographical space, social context and time.
• The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace and the Course of History, by Philip Bobbitt.  An erudite and sweeping review of European history until the 19th century and then an analysis of world history in the 20th and early 21st centuries viewed from the dual perspectives of Law and War.  This book provides a context within which to grasp the complex geopolitics of the world we currently live in.
• The Poetry of Robert Frost: All eleven of his books – complete, edited by Edward Connery Lathem.  This book reminds one that the only life worth living is one including a degree of reflection.
• The Measure of a Man: a Spiritual Autobiography - Sidney Poitier.  This book teaches a man how to live as a man.  In a day and age when men are increasingly out of touch with their essential masculinity, Poitier’s story of his personal challenges, triumphs and philosophy of life reads like a melodic breath of very fresh air.
• Lincoln’s Melancholy:  How Depression Challenged a President and Fuelled His Greatness, by Joshua Wolf Shenk.  A biography that reads like a detective novel. The real Lincoln is far more fascinating and inspiring than the manufactured American myth of the man.  Like Poitier’s book, this one provides insights into what is possible to achieve and, far more importantly, what it means to live life as a man who is true to his own vision, come hell or high water.  Interestingly, in Lincoln’s case it was the hellfire of a bullet, whereas for Poitier it was a near-death experience with high water.

Avil Beckford:  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?

David Gray: If I could have one wish granted, it would be to have all of my future wishes granted on a reversible (if unintended consequences ensued) basis.  But seriously…it would be to see President Obama lead the world, by astute understanding and management of long-range American foreign affairs interests, out of the political and economic bankruptcy created by the current American Administration and into a new era of relative peace and stability.

Avil Beckford:  Complete the following, I am happy when…..

David Gray: I am happ(iest) when surrounded by a few very close friends, discussing world affairs, telling jokes, enjoying the warmth of each other’s company and generally having a good laugh while stretching our minds.

About David Gray

David has advised executive clients based in Canada, the UK, Europe and Asia. In addition to his own consulting practice, David serves as President of the Board, Toronto Chapter of the Association of Career Professionals International (ACP International), and is a member of the Strategic Leadership Forum (GTA).

Prior to working as a career and strategic leadership consultant, David held management positions in Canada and the UK in business & technology consulting, and started up and managed two Divisions in Canada for a blue chip, global financial services organization.

David’s quiet, incisive, highly personalized approach has inspired many executives and entrepreneurs who are in process of redefining strategic paradigms to realize growth opportunities on both a business and personal level.

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.

Book links are affiliate links.

Interviewee Name: Susan Murphy

Company Name: Jester Creative Inc.

Website: http://www.jestercreative.com

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Susan Murphy: I live in Ottawa, Canada with my husband, 3 cats, and 1 dog. I’m an entrepreneur, a writer, and a teacher. But mostly, I’m a storyteller.

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

Susan Murphy: I became more involved in social media about 4 years ago. I don’t believe in having a distinct personal and professional presence online. I’m me, with all my warts and blemishes. Although I do have boundaries (e.g. I don’t ever talk about politics or religion online), I’m okay with my colleagues, clients, and friends knowing about all the aspects of my life – I’m a professional who also happens to love my family, my pets, music, and food. That I like to goof around on Twitter as much as I like to have serious conversations. I’m okay with people knowing lots of things about me. And I like knowing lots of things about them too.

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

Susan Murphy: There’s no place in my life for regret. I simply choose not to have any.

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

Susan Murphy:

1)  People don’t care as much about your mistakes as you think they do.

2)  There’s no excuse for not trying.

3)  Stop worrying. Just stop it.

4)  Never spend time thinking about people you don’t like.

5)  There’s no replacement for family and friends. They always come first.

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

Susan Murphy: My husband and I are real movie buffs, so we watch a lot. Also, I’m very much into music (performing and listening) so I like nothing more than spending an evening at a live show or hanging out with friends, jamming. I also love to cook and find it extremely relaxing, especially after a long day.

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

Susan Murphy: I do my best creative work in the early morning. I clear my mind and my desk of clutter, and I just sit down and start typing. If ideas don’t come easily or if I’m working something through, I’ll take a walk, do some exercise, or have a nap. Some of my best ideas come to me in the shower or right when I wake up in the morning.

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

Susan Murphy: “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon

It’s a great quote because it reminds me to stop and focus on the present moment, and not to get too wrapped up in the details of things that haven’t happened yet.

Avil Beckford: How do you define success?

Susan Murphy: If I wake up in the morning, I consider that a success.

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

Susan Murphy: There is no hard and fast formula for success. It’s different for everyone. But what I do know is, nobody ever succeeded by sitting around not trying things. So just try.

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

Susan Murphy: One step. I worked my butt off and didn’t stop.

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

Susan Murphy: Be curious about everyone and everything. And, if a door shuts in your face (and it will!), go find another door.

Avil Beckford: 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?

Susan Murphy: I’m not after meeting a bunch of people just because they are famous or popular. In my line of business I’ve met plenty of famous people, and although most of them were very nice, the experience was fleeting.

There are a ton of people I admire greatly but have never met, and a lot of people have never even heard of them. Justin Levy, Geoff Livingston, Deb Brown, and David Henderson are all good friends of mine that I have never met in person. I would love nothing more than to spend an afternoon with all of them.

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Susan Murphy: Right now I am reading “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living”, by Dale Carnegie. It’s been decades since a self-help book has resonated so well with me. It’s helped me make some really profound changes in my life. I think everyone should read it. This book is not new information – it was written in 1944. But it is something that I think most people need to be reminded of.

The negative effects of stress and worry are literally killing people. We could all do with less. Do yourself a favour and read this book!

Avil Beckford: 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.

Susan Murphy: Ahhh! The dreaded desert island question!

I really don’t know. Probably the Dale Carnegie book and Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth” would be all I’d really want or need.

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

Susan Murphy: CD – probably a compilation of old jazz standards, because that’s the music that calms my spirit the most.

Movie – It’s a Wonderful Life, because it’s my favourite, I’ve seen it 100 times. And I don’t care that it’s a Christmas movie – I watch it in July.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Susan Murphy: Possibility.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Susan Murphy: Music.

Avil Beckford: 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?

Susan Murphy: I’d use it to give homes and help to anyone who is homeless.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

I’m connected to others.

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.

Some book links are affiliate links.

Interviewee Name: Paulette Ensign

Company Name: TipsBooklets.com

Website: http://www.tipsbooklets.com, http://www.CollectionOfExperts.com

Paulette Ensign – Your Invisible Mentor & Workshop Leader

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Paulette Ensign: Fourteen years ago I got smart and made a cross-country move from Northeast America where I had lived all my life to sunny San Diego and I did it without missing a beat in my business because of the flexibility of Tips Booklet, which is what my business is all about. My cat and I got on a plane and I have never looked back. People have asked me why I moved to San Diego, and it’s simple, it doesn’t snow here (she laughs). I live a mile from the Pacific Ocean and I refer to that beach as my office annex. It’s one of the most beautiful experiences plus it does really allow me the kind of life that I want. I think it is important for anyone listening to or reading about our interview, to understand that’s what I promote. I promote people creating the life they want by taking their knowledge and putting it into information products and getting their message out worldwide and making good money from it.

Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?

Paulette Ensign: Mostly in good ways. The president of the music college that I attended for my undergraduate work said, “You go to a concert for two reasons: to find out what you like and to find out what you don’t like.” My mentors helped with that regardless of what profession I was in. And I had mentors in each of my three careers. They helped me to see what I liked that I wanted to emulate, expand and expound on, and they helped me see and sift through the things that really were not a match for me.

My mentors helped me to see who I am, respect it and build on it. For instance, they taught me to honour what my gift, personality and approach was all about. I am a go-getter kind of a person and for me to be a soft spoken person, is not the primary nature of who I am.

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

Paulette Ensign: The old Nike slogan to “Just Do It.” The core message is that I do not need approval from other people to do and be who I am, and that who I am really is something that needs to be shared with people who are open to receiving that. I am not everybody’s cup of tea, and that’s the good news.

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?

Paulette Ensign: One of the things that have been very consistently voiced over the year that I have been involved with Tips Booklets specifically is the concern of people already knowing what the booklet author is thinking about putting in the booklet, or the question, “Gee, doesn’t everyone know this already and why should I bother to do this?” And I see and hear this so often that I continue to encourage people to think in terms of the fact that each of us has lived with, breathed with and slept with our own expertise, so we know it very differently than people who are coming to us for the first time. So that the folks who are coming to us, whether invisible, or visible, interactive or passive.

Think in terms of the fact that some people know some of what you know, some know a lot of what you know, and some don’t know any of what you know. It is really valuable to put your knowledge out there because if they don’t know anything at all about your expertise, that’s great; if they know some of what you know, you can definitely function as a good reminder to them and if they know a lot of what you know, confirmation is certainly valuable to people so do yours anyway. That’s what I think can be of great value to readers about what they can do to move forward in only the best way.

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

Paulette Ensign: The thing that I want to impress upon our listeners and readers is the notion of course correction. Most of us to go from Point A to Point B, but rarely even with the best map in the world do we do that without a little bit of “zigging” and “zagging”.

Throughout my life in integrating my personal and professional life, some days it’s just been really too much of one thing. Too much of my professional life or on a rare occasion I’ve been out of the office for longer than I’m comfortable with. I have confidence in the knowledge that I can always fix that, I can always shift that. If I’m in the office too long it’s just a question of saying to myself, “Get up, get out of your chair, go and either walk or get in the car, do something or pick the phone up, and make a plan to get together with someone.” And I think that realization and autonomy, and also the notion of self-determination, and the fact that I live alone with my cat is a different situation than folks who are in a relationship with another human being, or where they’ve got families that are really pulling more on their schedule, time and attention, but it’s a different reality than what my life happens to be at this moment.

I don’t want to overlook or disrespect that as a single person whose sole responsibility is to her cat, yes, I’ve got huge autonomy, and I can make those choices differently without consideration of anybody else. Do what you can do, my personal opinion about all of that even when you have people around you, because of that it is even more important to determine what it is you need to feed yourself and fuel your own good movement forward and your own satisfaction. Take a breath, it may not be some huge change to make, it may be something small that will satisfy that need. Regardless of what size it is, think about what you need and get that done.

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

Paulette Ensign: I don’t know that I’ve got any regrets at all. I don’t mean that to sound Pollyannish. Based on what you have heard me express as my philosophy, I believe that everything have happened the way that they were supposed to, and some things have turned out differently than I would have preferred, there are other things that I am sure had I had more information I would have done them differently. At this point I’m really reluctant to identify anything as a regret. I think it’s just a matter of saying, “What can I learn from this? or this wasn’t my journey to have that experience and what’s next?”

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

Paulette Ensign:

1. I need to keep going even on those days that don’t look the way I’d like them to look; tomorrow is going to look different. It just simply will. I can have a momentary pity party, can feel bad about it and tomorrow is going to look different.
2. I have the ability to make changes, and if I don’t make changes, then that’s a choice I’ve made. If something is different from the way that I’d like it to be, the lesson there is to ask myself, “What can I do so that it’s different?” For instance, if my cash flow isn’t what I’d like it to be in a particular week or month or year, it’s up to me to take a look to see what I can do to make it different because playing the blame game doesn’t get us anywhere so what can I do to make it different?
3. My happiness depends on me, which is a spinoff of what I mentioned a moment ago about what I can do to change what is happening. Happiness specifically is something that is really up to me.
4. Listening to other people’s opinions is something that needs to be filtered out and filtered in, in ways that really work best for all concerned, so when someone is unabashedly giving me their opinion and it has tinges of negativity attached to in, what I’ve learned over the years is to say, “Thank you so much for your thoughts,” and then filter it out. After selling about 50,000 copies of my booklets – and by the way, I’ve sold over 1 million copies, without spending a penny on advertising – my younger sister said to me, “How is that stupid booklet doing?” She didn’t mean it in a mean way, even though those words could sound like it, it was in a kind of offhanded way, and I’ve now had the last laugh about that because I had sold 50,000 copies at that point. There will be dream killers in the lives of many people. I’ve learn that while some folks around any of us may mean well, they are not walking in our moccasins, so I thank them and realize that is their agenda, their issues, not mine, and I do what I’m going to do anyway.
5. Honour who I am, and when I think about the fact that I enjoy starting things and being a trailblazer. There are a lot of examples in the world right now, of people who have done things, and the people in their lives thought they were totally out of their minds. When I think about the inventor of things like the hula hoop, or the pet rock or the chia pet, who had the last laugh on those? The chia pet now every year during the Holiday Season, the silly thing that you add water to and it grows a goofy kind of plant, is around decades later and they just continue to change what the actual form of it is. The lesson is to honour myself and do what I think the best thing is for me to be doing, as long as it is legal, moral and ethical and is not hurtful to other people. That’s a crucial lesson to learn, and I continue to support and encourage other people to get beyond their own self doubts, and concerns about what the people in their lives are saying to them, and that’s a big thing for me.

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

Paulette Ensign: I live a mile from the beach and that’s no accident or coincidence so that’s a magnet for me immediately. I also enjoy eating sushi, which I know some people have never acquired the taste for but that’s something that I never have to be asked twice to go out to enjoy. I enjoy traveling though I never like to be a road warrior, just enough and I think it is important and it is a necessity not a luxury to change environment by traveling. There is always so much to experience, learn and enjoy by traveling. I have gone to Europe several times and I’ve experienced traveling around the United States and Canada a bit, so those are the things that come to mind most readily that I think people can enjoy. I’m not particularly a big reader per se although that’s not to say that I don’t read a book now and then, but as far as folks who enjoy reading as one of their top fie great hobbies, that wouldn’t be mine. I enjoy getting together with friends too.

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

Paulette Ensign: Some of it is talking it out with respected colleagues, family and friends. Some of it is just to get a yellow pad and start scratching it out. I am somebody who enjoys crunching numbers so I will go that route first; and the combination of all those things plus I’ll use a mind mapping process to get the components out and that’s the short answer for how I generally like to generate ideas. I also like to get it out there and see what’s working, what isn’t working and make changes and then proceed.

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

Paulette Ensign: My favourite quotation is one I created a while back and I would admit to it being a spinoff to one of the big credit card company’s. My quote is, “Are you open to the possibilities?” because it’s so open ended and gets people thinking and moving beyond those limitations.

Avil Beckford: How do you define success?

Paulette Ensign: Being happy!

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

Paulette Ensign: Taking a look at what I’ve got, accomplished and feel great about. If it’s not something I feel great about, what can I do to make it different? If I’ve got things, experiences that are making me almost happy, what can I do to make it so that I am completely happy about it? Sometimes it’s not possible in that moment, sometimes it’s going to be delayed, and sometimes it’s not going to be possible at all. However to look at what it is that I have, and am, and experience and express real sincere gratitude for it, is my formula for success.

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

Paulette Ensign: This is going to sound glib and I don’t mean it to be, but the steps that I’ve taken to succeed have been literally to keep going. I know that may sound like an amazing grasp of the obvious, but when things have not worked, where either the quantity of the sales hasn’t been what I would like or where the prices just weren’t lining up, with what my market said was a good idea, or where I’ve created a product that nobody wanted, I have kept going, either I’ve said, “This isn’t a match at all,” “Let’s just put it off to the side,” or I’ve taken a look to see what I can change to test to see how this will work.

For instance, a couple of year ago I created a membership program, and I took what my people had been doing with Tips Booklets and went beyond that into a bigger realm regarding publishing. It really did not get to the point where I would like for it to have gotten to on two levels. One, I never really got the number of people to make it financially at the level that I was planning for it to be. And I got feedback that was extremely helpful from people who had been traveling with me for a while on this booklet journey. They said that even though the people that I interviewed, other experts in the field of publishing, while they were good, they felt that the general publishing information was not as powerful, and didn’t have as much of a punch as the information I was personally putting out about booklets.

In the process of doing that I risked diluting what my brand was with booklets and I risked alienating people who had been very keen on knowing more about booklets. However, you asked the question earlier about regret, and I don’t regret having done that, because had I not done that I wouldn’t have known that that was a path that was not for me to go down. It took a year of experimenting on that to see that part of it worked, part of it didn’t. Some of that is important to be aware of and acknowledge.

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

Paulette Ensign: I’m someone who enjoys instant gratification, and I would be lying to say otherwise. However, a lot of what I say defies that, and when someone comes to me and wants to know how they can make lots and lots of money in 30 days, I say to them, “I’m the wrong person for you to ask.” Spend time exploring, and finding nooks and crannies and who your people are, and I’m not going to say who your market is. You may find certain people in a variety of markets who resonate with who you are and what you are about. I advise people to keep going and that 99 times out of a hundred you are going to find that where your starting point is as logical as it may have seemed, is rarely your finish line.

Let me give you an example that’s very easy to understand. When I wrote my booklet, 110 Ideas for Organizing Your Business Life, I was in a very senior leadership position in the profession of professional organizing. I was the National President of the Association of Professional Organizers when I wrote my booklet and when I made the cross-country move.

I had access to the major office supply manufactures worldwide at that point because of my involvement in that association, and it was very appropriate access that I had. I was not usurping my position in anyway. It was typical interaction that we had within the association. So I thought this was going to be a really easy thing to have office supply manufacturers clamouring for my booklet, well, it wasn’t the case. As it turned out, there were others entities that ended up buying many copies of my booklets. Financial planners for instance, found that it was a great thing to send as that year’s holiday gift to their list of people, and other industries viewed it similarly. That’s the kind of thing which reinforces the issue of to keep going.

Avil Beckford: 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?

Paulette Ensign: I don’t have an answer to that question because I don’t know who I want to meet because people show up that I couldn’t have imagined who would have been so wonderful to connect with. Because celebrity does not appeal to me per se in and of itself, there are not people that come to my mind. I had dinner one time in Washington DC because I was doing a speaking event there, and my hosts happen to take me to a restaurant, that at the next table Maya Angelou happened to be sitting, and I was so thrilled to get a sense of what her physical essence was about and that she carried with her an aura about her that was so basic and down-to-earth that was so regal.

It was just one of those things you know, and it was like a cat walking in front of me and I don’t mean that in any kind of a negative way. As far as five people that I’d want to meet, I don’t know who they are, and I have a feeling that I’ve met some of them already, and the rest of them are going to appear as appropriate. As far as what I would say to them I would ask them some questions. I would ask them about their lives, much in the way you are asking me today and see what would surface as important to them and learn from that and enjoy the experience. That’s how I would answer that question for you today.

Avil Beckford: You say that you do not read a lot but was there one book that had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Paulette Ensign: Yes, there was one book and I was really impressed that it had an impact on the lives of people I wouldn’t have anticipated, and that book was the Celestine Prophecy. I remember reading it probably 20 years ago, or close to it. And what I became aware of is that people across socio-economic identifications were finding this book to be very helpful. I have one foot in the metaphysical , new age, holistic world and one foot in mainstream, so for me that book resonated because of the kinds of life lessons that were in it, that I found were so applicable to so much of what I was about.

I had to laugh at the folks who I knew were highly educated – not that I do not have my fair share of formal education in my two degrees – who I viewed as snobs thought the book wasn’t well written and missed the whole point. I was not there to analyze the calibre of the writing style as much as what was the message of the book, and there were life lesson throughout that book. Even though I can’t cite them in this moment, I know that it was a book that I was unusually recommending to other people and buying them copies so thank you for asking that question.

Avil Beckford: 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.

Paulette Ensign: The Celestine Prophecy would be one. Because of the fact that I am fairly spiritually-based, I would be inclined to have some self-help books, a copy of the Torah because of my Jewish background. I have also found some great value in some of the books about human behaviour and self-help. One book that I have also found very helpful in my business life is 1001 Ways to Market Your Book by John Kremer. I have three consecutive editions of it on my bookshelf, and it has prompted so many ideas. There is no way any one person could do everything in that book in one lifetime. However it certainly has generated lots and lots of ideas for me in my booklet business, and things that I teach others and share. There is a book by the futurist Faith Popcorn, The Popcorn Report – she thinks very much like me although she goes into much greater depth, and her background is such that she has predicted lots of trends – that I get excited about.

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

Paulette Ensign: Any CD that is Brahms. Brahms is my absolutely favourite composer so any of the symphonies and chamber music by Brahms would be great. As far as the movie, there is a movie many years ago that George Burns did called “Oh God,” and I think that represents my statement about spirituality, and that I believe that it’s a joint venture, that I can’t do it all and that it’s not my nature to hand over the responsibility of my life to some higher being and give up any part that I can contribute.

If you cannot view this YouTube video of Brahms, click here.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Paulette Ensign: Brainstorming and I do not care about what topic it is. Of getting involved, of interacting with other people and getting ideas going because they always contribute to what I have got and I am comfortable enough, and confident that I do contribute to the thought process and lives of other people.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Paulette Ensign: I think that we’ve hit on a lot of ways that I’ve done that in the time that we’ve talked today – dealing with other people’s ideas, and being with people who get me and who I get, where we resonate. That adds so much to my world both in receiving and giving the gifts of who each of us is all about.

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

Paulette Ensign: I’m not going to tell you world peace because that’s so obvious, however I am going to say the one wish of having people around me who we can interact and receive, that’s probably the one wish that I would have.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

Paulette Ensign: I am able to share the best of who I am with other people where they are equally willing to share the best of who they are with me.

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.

All book links are affiliate links.

Today, we present Part Two of Christina Ioannidis’ interview. Once again there is lots of useful information for you. Get a pen and notebook and pay special attention to her five life lessons and the steps she took to succeed in her career.

I have conducted hundreds of interviews over the years, and one of the things that I have discovered, is that the advice that interviewees give often transcends a particular job function and industry. So even though Christina is an international speaker, consultant and seasoned entrepreneur, her advice is also good for someone in a staff or management role. You can read more about Christina, her bio is at the end of the interview, and a link to her website is in the Tell me about yourself section. I present Christina Ioannidis.

Interviewee Name: Christina Ioannidis: 

Company Name:  Aquitude

Website: www.aquitude.com

Christina Ioannidis – Your Invisible Mentor

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Christina Ioannidis: I am a Greek-Venezuelan who lives in London. My passion in life is to support other people and inspire individuals to do what they are passionate about, and that’s what I do on a professional and daily basis. I am the founder and CEO of Aquitude.

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

Christina Ioannidis: Studies are showing, and it is my experience that you have to link your personal and professional life. You have to find the intersection between what you are passionate about, the skills that you have, and the market or the role on a professional basis to deliver those skills and bring in that passion. The intersection of those three areas is key.

As an example, in my life, I went to school, to university. I won all the awards that you could possibly win. I was top, top, top and I was going to be the next CEO of Proctor and Gamble. That was my ambition when I was 24. This is not an exaggeration because I was very ambitious. However, what I didn’t realize is that even though I was on a good career path I was desperately unhappy for a very long time and I thought it was because I was single and I didn’t have a boyfriend for five years. And I’m being honest about this because that was the kind of messaging that I gave myself that there was something wrong with me because I didn’t have a partner. I had everything else besides a partner, so I thought if I was unhappy, it must be that.

My redundancies came along and I started aqua, and I realized that it wasn’t because I didn’t have a partner why I was unhappy. I’d gone through life following a path that was expected of me, that I thought was right for me. The day that I started aqua, which I told you about was the day I met my future husband to be, everything changed for me. I lost a lot of weight, I cut my hair, everything about me shifted and I was the happiest and still am the happiest I have ever been. Despite all the upheavals in my life, I’m doing something which is creative. I realize that’s one of my strengths. I’m a very creative person. I am able to use my skills as an inspirer, someone who inspires people.

I love talking in public, I love training, which was what I was doing in the shop as well because I was responsible for getting the customers to sit down and design so I was using those skills. And I’m also using my natural communications skills because I am very external facing in everything I do. These were things that I was not doing before. That’s where the intersection comes in.

Identify what you are best at, what you love doing, which for me is the same thing. If you love doing something, you’re probably best at it, and they are probably your best skills so find a way to bring it into your career, into your job, and if your job doesn’t bring it to you, then do something to change it.

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

Christina Ioannidis: I don’t have regrets.

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

1. Focus on what you love doing.
2. Build a network of people to help you through your challenges, whether it’s your Board of Directors, Power Minds Group. These are people who do not necessarily know you too well, but they know you enough to give you an objective view.
3. Use two ears and one mouth ratio, so listen
4. Seize the day. Don’t wait for tomorrow to do what you can do today. Last year I had a really bad accident. I could have died last year. Luckily I was injured but not terminally, so that made me realize how finite our life is. That made me realize that I’ve got to do what I want to do now, and be happy because I don’t know whether in 60 year’s time I’ll be around. Who cares if I have savings or not, because I’ll be lucky to live until I’m 90 years old or 100 years old.
5. Love people around you, share the love, and don’t be embittered. A lot of people walk around in their lives feeling negative, unhappy in their jobs, feeling helpless, and at the same time spreading negative vibes and negative energy. Negative energy only gets people to spew negativity toward you, so it becomes a vicious cycle. Be very aware of the energy you give to other people, because it’s only positive energy that pulls people your way, negative energy pushes them away.

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

Christina Ioannidis: My husband would say that I don’t have down time. But when I have down time, I enjoy going to the gym. I have a lot of energy so it helps me to exercise, do yoga and pilates. I like sitting on the sofa with my husband watching TV and not thinking about anything.

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

Christina Ioannidis:

I am a highly visual person so I use mind maps. I start drawing the issue I am thinking about and let my mind run wild. I write words that come into my head, and there is one technique that I use which is called “What if” so I would ask myself “what if you tried X or what if you tried Y” and let the mind map take over the sheet. I also spend a lot of time mulling over things, and it’s just relaxing thinking time, people watching, not so much to getting too involved, but making my brain simmer on what I’m trying to think about.

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

Christina Ioannidis: “Failure is the only opportunity to begin again more intelligently,” by Henry Ford.

Avil Beckford: How do you define success?

Christina Ioannidis: That’s a $10 billion question. I define success by knowing that I have achieved what I want to achieve. Success for me is about the creation of something. I have never associated it with money, that’s why with the failed business I remortgaged my flat. It’s about being happy with what I have achieved what I set out to do, and it has worked the way that I wanted it to.

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

If I had the formula for success I would be selling it in potions.

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

Christina Ioannidis: 

I think when I was in my corporate life I was very successful financially. When I left my corporate life I wasn’t as financially successful because I had a serious setback. However, I think overall I was more successful in my entrepreneurial life because I was able to create something, make it grow to a certain point. Now the steps would be:

• Always keep learning and be open to taking in information even if it’s about an industry, or a way of doing things, or purely about business. Have your radar screen open to what’s going on around you because things can shift from one day to the next. In September 2008 the world changed with the credit crunch and that was in 24 hours. There were warning signs but not many people picked them up.
• Be willing to adapt, as people we are set in our ways, and we do things the way we want to do them, but as entrepreneurial people know, you have to sometimes switch your strategy and positioning because the market may have shifted, or something may have happened externally to the business that will influence you. And this also comes down to the personal level to be flexible because nothing is set in stone.
• Be very clear with your communications with others, so that you don’t get disappointed if a relationship does not work. You have to safeguard yourself against that, and set expectations, agree how you are going to work together.
• Work with people who are different from you, bring in people who complement your skills set. A good example is myself and my co-author. She is a financier so she is highly organized person. I’m very creative and I’m very passionate. Put us together and we complement each other perfectly. It makes for a good collaborative working relationship, but had I not been aware of how different she is to me, we probably would have had so many arguments. But because I know what strengths she brings, she appreciates the strengths I bring, we work very well together, because we both come to it from a place of mutual respect.  When we set out to write the book together, to work together, we said this is the reason we are working together because we know we are complementary, and we say that every time we speak to anybody.

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out?

Christina Ioannidis:

1. Get yourself a mentor, someone who is respected in the field who could help guide you along the way. And, not just one, try and find as many people as possible that could offer advice. And it doesn’t have to be too formal; it can be on an informal basis.
2. Work really hard but be intelligent about it, so spend your time and energy on things that you want to work on and enjoy doing. But at the same time make sure that all the right people who need to know about your work know it. So that’s about promoting yourself a little bit while you are also performing.
3. Follow your passions and make sure you are always doing something that you really enjoy rather than getting caught up in the whole materialistic “I’m going to have a bigger salary,” because ultimately it comes to the point where it’s not about the salary, it what’s make your heart or gut rise up in flames of passion.

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?

Christina Ioannidis: 

1. Katharine Hepburn because she brings in femininity with a kind of androgynous look so I find her inspiring because she is a beautiful woman and at the same time emancipated for her time, and I like that.
2. I would bring my grandmother back to speak to her one last time.
3. Oprah Winfrey, I find her a very interesting woman.
4. Mahatma Gandhi
5. Indira Gandhi because she was also an interesting woman

I would ask a few questions and simply listen to them.

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Christina Ioannidis:

I mentioned earlier the role my mother and grandmother played in my life, and there was one book Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang, and it’s a story about three generations of Chinese women. It’s a very thick book, but it’s extremely gripping. It talks about the power that each one of these women had to overcome the challenges of their generation. So that had a very big impact on my life because I completely reflect the story in the story of my grandmother, my mother and myself. I think it’s a book that you would enjoy.

Avil Beckford: 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.

Christina Ioannidis:

You could go one of two ways, you can say I would like to have all my favourite books with me, or if I’m on a deserted island then I have the time to spare to learn something new. So I would take books that I haven’t had the opportunity to read because of life.

• I would take a photo album with pictures of all my family and loved ones. I’m highly visual so I need those pictures.
• I would take Wild Swans : Three Daughters of China because it’s important to keep reminding myself of the story.
• I would take three books that I haven’t read that I’d like to read: The Odyssey and The Iliad of Homer (Volume 3) by Homer; and I would also take a compendium of works by ancient Greek Philosophers to increase my knowledge on the basic fundamentals of philosophy, but also the ethos by which the ancient Greeks established that magnificent spirit of learning. And that by the way is not just male philosophers, there were also female Greek philosophers that I’d love to learn more about.

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

Christina Ioannidis:

Let’s start with film because that’s an easy one for me. I always loved and shared the same passion with my mother for the film Gone with the Wind (Two-Disc 70th Anniversary Edition). And I guess the reason why it’s important is it’s a woman’s story of survival against all odds. I just find it an absolutely beautiful film considering it was made in 1936. It has a lot of interesting parallels to modern day women. I’m challenged with the CD because I would be torn between two. I would take a CD with Chopin’s Nocturne (constitute 21 short pieces for solo piano) and I would also take Requiem in Full Score (Latin Edition). Both those works move me in very different ways.

Gone with the wind (trailer)

If you cannot view the YouTube video click here.

Chopin Nocturne Op.9 No.2 (Arthur Rubinstein)

If you cannot view the YouTube video click here.

Mozart – Requiem

If you cannot view the YouTube video click here.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Christina Ioannidis: Someone used a phrase called the beautiful texture of life. It’s the tapestry of life which excites me.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Christina Ioannidis: Taking everything in, being open, being accepting, noticing details of what people are saying, being aware of now instead of thinking about tomorrow all the time.

Avil Beckford: 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?

Christina Ioannidis:Good health!

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

The sun is shining.

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.

About Christina Ioannidis:

Christina Ioannidis (www.christinaioannidis.com) is an international speaker, consultant and seasoned entrepreneur.

A Venezuelan – Greek, she is the founder and CEO of Aquitude (www.aquitude.com) , a leading Organizational, People and Market Development consultancy. Aquitude’s client list include FTSE 100 companies such as Shell, Barclays, Accenture, Mercer, Detica , PA Consulting, among others.

Christina is also sought-after speaker and she delivers interactive and engaging keynotes at conferences worldwide. She is a thought leader in the subjects of gender-savvy leadership and talent management, employee and customer engagement, effective product development and marketing, as well as innovation and intrapreneurship. She has been invited to comment on Sky News, The Sunday Times, The Observer, The Evening Standard, The Guardian, among others.

Christina is the author of “Your Loss: How to Win Back Your Female Talent” (www.yourlossbook.com).

Book links are affiliate links.

Video Credit: Gone With The Wind Movie Trailer Uploaded by beatricecorti on Mar 8, 2008, Chopin’s Nocturne in EbM Op.9 No.2 Uploaded by rmannion on Aug 27, 2007, Mozart Requiem Uploaded by madhammu on Mar 5, 2009.

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