Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions with Michael Sherlock
From sales to self-care you need a strategy to be successful. Communication is another key to being successful in sales or being successful as a leader or business in general. We have to think through our messaging carefully in all areas. Setting realistic and obtainable goals is one thing but you really need to announce them to be legit.
About Michael
Don’t be fooled by the name, the hair color, or crazy shoes. Michael Sherlock is serious about business. She is dedicated to creating positive, productive, and profitable workplaces, and helping individuals, and businesses unlock their ultimate potential.
Before launching her global training company, Shock Your Potential, Michael was Vice President of US Sales for two multi-national medical device companies, responsible for net revenue exceeding $75 million and as many as 500 employees at a time. In 2020 she released the Shock Your Potential App, an on-demand training tool for leadership and sales professionals, and was chosen as #12 of the Top Female Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2021 by EnterpriseLeague.com.
My Favorite Quote
No one’s sense of urgency ever matches my own. – Michael Sherlock
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Full Transcript Below
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (00:02):
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the business of business podcast on Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions, of course. We’re the podcasts that bring a wide range of guests covering a lot of diverse topics, uh, you know, aim to help our entrepreneurs, solo, preneur, small business people. And today, uh, we have another fascinating guest it’s Michael Sherlock. She is, uh, the lead at shock your potential. They teach leaders how to operate at a different level. Leveraging the strengths of the team to achieve higher levels of success. Focus on supporting corporations and business leaders with actionable strategies on leadership, employee development, customer service, and sales transformation. Michael, thanks for taking time out of your day to be with us and welcome to the show.
Michael (00:56):
You’re welcome. I, every time I hear, you know, intros, I’m like, wow, I do a lot of stuff.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (01:01):
That’s what I tell people like, would this quit here? Because it just, for me just goes downhill. Once I get past my introduction. Well, I know that you deal with the, um, you know, a lot of a wide range of, uh. Customers and, you know, in kind of our pre-show talk. You said your business that, you know, in the pandemic has shifted more from B to B, to B, to C. Where you’re helping some people with the myriad of issues. So what are some things that you’re saying that us entrepreneurs solo, preneurs and small business people need to keep in mind. Or need to have our eye on going into 2021?
Michael (01:44):
Well, I’ll tell you what we, if there’s one thing we’ve learned. It’s that we have no choice, but to communicate differently, right? And the core of everything I teach is all about communication. So, you know, leadership, my leadership concepts are based in active questions and really truly active listening. Uh, my sales coaching and training is all about listening and asking more questions than making pitches or assumptions. But I think that whether you’re a solopreneur, you’re a small business person, you work for a corporation.
The key moving forward is if you are not continuing to evolve and enhance your communication skills. You’re going to get left behind. Right? Because we know that for a fact. We’re going to have so much more remote work and interactions moving forward, even when the world is all fully vaccinated and turning again, because we’ve found that it, it makes sense. It makes financial sense, but there’s a price tag to be paid for it. If you’re not, if you weren’t a good communicator or a very clear communicator to begin with.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (02:45):
Exactly. Yeah. And, um, a lot of people have been, you know, we zoom too much. I actually have enjoyed it because it’s gotten us away from these emails because sometimes, you know, our, the message or what we’re trying to convey is doesn’t come through as well. Uh, you know, just in an email. So I’ve actually enjoyed being able to do a lot more connecting with zoom. Um, you know, so you could see people’s reactions, they can see yours. It just, uh, to me, it makes the communication process much easier.
Michael (03:19):
I think so too. I think there’s a great advantage to it because, you know. We can look at each other, you know, much more directly. And it was interesting. I had, um, a media outlet approached me for some input on. You know, what do you do when you have people, employees that are displaying my bad behavior on zoom?
You know, maybe they’re, you know, they’re sloppy. Now, maybe they’re swearing, you know, maybe they’re multitasking. You know, you know, what are those things? And, you know, my first response was, you know, we, you know, we were in 2020 in uncharted territory. From a complete business standpoint. But at this point in time, if we haven’t learned to act better on camera. Then you know, then the core communication strategy has already broken with you.
And, you know, to be able to see somebody and realize we can operate professionally in a whole different way. And we can do it consistently. We can have great, great outcomes much better than, you know, from your point trying to communicate through email or even sometimes getting on an airplane to go have a business or sales meeting with somebody.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (04:23):
Yeah. Now I’ll throw myself under the bus. Say I’m probably that guy, most of the time, uh, I jokingly call this my zoom shirt. You know, I keep it hanging over here on the, on the wall. So when I have to get on the call, I’ll throw it on. So I’m not looking at my old t-shirt. But you know, I think the, the other thing we need to look at from a positive perspective is this, um. It widens our talent pool from a geographical constriction. That I think some people have always felt that we’ve had that I live in my town. And I need to hire in my town. Maybe the talent pool is, uh, not what I need it to be. But this, I think we’ve proven now that a lot of jobs you can do it remotely and do it well.
Michael (05:09):
Absolutely. I think when we talked before, I think I told you that my entire team is based out of Kenya. And I found not only was that affordable for me for. From a business standpoint, but there is incredible talent there that I would have never known. It’s truly, you know, something that gives me also a different global perspective. Um, not, not even so much, uh. You know, from, from my team. But you know, it opened up new, uh, proper opportunities.
We actually started a new busines. Where we’re matching people from Kenya, with other businesses and small business owners around the world. But now I have a following in Kenya that I would have never had before. And as we open ourselves up to new people. New cultures, new opportunities, and we don’t see the boundaries, we really truly become global and can become global very quickly. Yeah. And, you know, that’s,
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (05:58):
Uh, you know, as I’ve become older. That’s something I really realized about myself is. You know, I grew up in a very small little bubble of, you know, people I surrounded myself with. And, uh, you know, there’s a big a world out there that a lot of us are just totally unaware of. So that has been another positive. Is that I think it’s opened up, um, so much more. If nothing else, just to know other people’s cultures. And you know, how they live their day to day life as well.
Michael (06:30):
Absolutely. But there’s a lot we can learn from it. Yeah.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (06:32):
So kind of speaking of that, um. I feel like, and I saw a survey the other day. That said probably 75% of remote work is here to stay. Um, you know, companies are gonna have problems saying, Hey, we need you. We need you to come back to the office. Now, a lot of people are gonna say, no. I’m just gonna look for another position that will keep me at home. But, um, you know, what is your take on that? Do you feel like that, um, the bulk of the stay at home. If you can operate at home that the bulk will stay at home?
Michael (07:05):
I think so. And I think especially for the next few years now, there may be a different shift after that. But one of the things that I see. Is that there are a lot of people who are very afraid to go back to work, right? So even if they’re vaccinated or even if you know everybody else in their offices vaccinated. We still don’t know all the data.
We don’t know how long the vaccines last, we don’t know, you know, what else is going to, to occur. And although there are many of us. I think that are very comfortable and we’d love to be back based a base with a lot of people. There’s a lot of people who just simply aren’t comfortable. Right. But regardless of that. I think businesses have, have now had to ask themselves the question, how much do we really need to spend on our overhead space? Right. And what is the outcome that we can get with remote workers?
You know. I mean, some of the biggest players in the world. You know, the Facebooks, the Googles, you know, we’re building massive brand new buildings all over the place. Cause those things stop. You know, the question is. You know, what will happen in many of those cases where workers really can be remote. Maybe shouldn’t come together at times. Right. Um, but the, the cost benefit analysis is not always going to be in line for people coming back into an office environment.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (08:22):
Right. So what are some tips, um, that you have for, for, um, I guess being productive and you know, so many people, I think this is, um, there were people that were scared that felt like I’ve got to have my people where I can look out my window and see them, or, you know, look out my door and see them. And I think maybe we’ve changed a few minds about that, but there’s still the concern from both perspectives managers and workers have that connection. Um, you know, cause sometimes people are left and nobody, nobody ever reaches out to them. They feel like they’ve been, you know, cast off to an Island, which is probably not a good feeling for that employee. So what are some things that we can do or how do you run your business where you can stay engaged?
Michael (09:14):
Well, you know, you, you hit the nail on the head, you’ve got two sides of the coin. You’ve got the employee who, if they’re left alone wonders, do I still have a job because zero communication from your manager means maybe they don’t think I’m important. Right. Um, from the, um, the leadership, the management perspective, when that employee doesn’t communicate, you wonder, well, what are they doing?
Where are they? Are they even working? And so the key communication channel is broken down. Um, and I know I find that with my team and they work at different hours and you know, I mean we’re eight hours apart most of the time. Um, and there’s challenges with that, but we’ve become very project based. But the last couple months, you know, I have realized that I need to be better myself and having not weekly meetings with everybody because my team’s getting too large for that.
Michael (10:05):
But that at least every other week that I’m with somebody in my, in my department managers, I need to be with them once a week. And I have to carve that time out of my schedule. I might not spend an hour with them, but we need to have the rhythm of that to be able to talk, to be able to communicate, to say, what else do you need from me? And to be able to, to have feedback.
But there are a couple other things that I think are really important and something that I learned because my entire team is global and remote is when I couldn’t get them. If you know what I mean, sometimes there’ll be five or six o’clock at night. My time they’re in bed, they better be in bed. It’s very late. Um, and, but I have something that I want to share with them.
Michael (10:47):
So there’ll be times when all hop on a zoom meeting myself and I’ll hit record and I’ll say, hi, Lorna, Hey, I hope you’re getting a good, night’s sleep. Something I want to cover with you today. Um, so that you can take a look at it tomorrow and then I’ll share my screen and I’ll, and I’ll go through like, maybe I’ll say, Hey, I know you wanted me to edit, you know, some of our social media posts, let me show you what I was thinking and why I changed these things.
And it gives me an opportunity to teach and connect in a different way. And she doesn’t say, I mean, they all do the same back to me. They’ll go, Hey, Michael. Um, I really need your help on this, this and this. Let me share my screen. Let me show you what’s going on. And that kind of communication. I’ll tell you what if I, if I was so smart, I would have figured that out way before we had a pandemic, because it just interest increased our communication and our understanding and that’s what builds trust.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (11:39):
Yeah. And that’s an awesome idea. It’s something I’ve never thought about, but being able to not only record the video message, but also, uh, you know, do the screen share so you can actually put documents and other things in front of them while you’re talking about it. So you, there, you learn something every day. That’s an awesome takeaway.
Michael (11:58):
And it I’ll tell you what it, it also it does, is it, it does, you might not be speaking together at that time, but then you do have like that Ida, I contact you, you know, I mean, I’ll, I’ll speak right into the screen as if that person is there and you start to feel like you’re together and not so alone. Whereas, you know, even your, your example before emails can be taken a lot of different ways.
Right. But if I, if I do it and I have my inflections and I’m like, Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions, let me tell ya, okay, we gotta talk about your last article he wrote. Right. You’re going to hear my laughter. You’re going to hear my, my intent. And it’s not going to come across if I have some things that I need to critique you on as well.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (12:38):
Yeah. And, and, you know, case in point I had a client last week, a new one that I hadn’t talked with and sent me a couple of emails. I was like, Oh, I mean, I cringe because I’m like, Oh my gosh, this is going to be a beading. And when I finally got on the phone and talk with the guy, he was the nicest communicator.
It was really good. But when I, you know, I kind of judged by these couple of short Curt emails that I had received and, you know, I was cringing. So that’s just a, another reminder that, you know, emails, aren’t always the, uh, don’t always carry the intended message that others are trying to convey. So another thing that you have done, you’ve got, uh, uh, you know, a fascinating background, but you work for two multinational, uh, medical device companies.
I think the revenue exceeded about 75 million and you had 500 employees, um, in sales at the time. So what are some things that have changed are changing, are going to change, you know, as, uh, as things either drag on a little longer, or maybe get back to some different form of normalcy, um, what are you seeing in the sales arena?
Michael (13:56):
Well, I’ll tell you just for lead generation alone, I am seeing people in my view abuse, um, the opportunity of LinkedIn. And let me explain what I mean by that. Um, I have every day I probably get 10 to 15 LinkedIn connection requests. I always know when it’s going to be somebody who wants to sell me something, because it starts off with a line like, Hey, I just, I reviewed your profile.
And I think that we can have synergies and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And most of the time I accept them because why not? I like to have, you know, I like to have great connections. I like to be engaged with people. Um, but I always know when I’m going to be sold and it doesn’t feel good to have somebody then start bombarding my email inbox on LinkedIn. I’ve got almost 18,000 connections.
Michael (14:48):
So most of the time I forget about him anyway, after a little bit, because you know, the emails are replaced by somebody else trying to bombard me, but really interesting is that I think people, I do know that there are a lot of people who are using LinkedIn, where they’ll have somebody go in and start farming for them where they’re using different kinds of bots and know different elements to, to market.
So it’s vastly different than sales, but they think it’s sales. And by the way, I had, this was two guys in a row who their message was exactly the same. And it starts out, I was trying to think of something witty to say, to, you know, make a great new connection. But I guess this is all you got love to connect. And, and when I saw the second guy and they were literally the same words I thought, Oh my gosh, now we’re copying what other people are doing.
Michael (15:37):
This is, what are you doing at the end of the day? Sales still has to be about, about individuals, about how you establish a relationship. It doesn’t mean relationship. Be like, you have to be somebody’s friend, but you have to make a connection, right? Because if I don’t make a connection with you, I can’t determine whether or not what I’m selling is even an interest. But I think that right now, people have had so much time that they’re just throwing things at the wall, hoping and praying something stick, right in, all it’s doing is turning people off.
We want, we want. Honesty, we want, uh, we want it to be, you know, our true selves. We, we don’t want to be sold by somebody who who’s now conveying. What we all seem to align with sales is something that feels dirty. It feels like you’re, you know, a little bit of, you know, when I say used car salesman, we all know what I mean. And I always feel bad for an actual use car salesman because they have a bad rep, but those practices are going on a long, a lot right now. And I think it really gets to the heart of somebody whose integrity in terms of how they are pushing in systems where people don’t want what they’re selling. Right.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (16:52):
Yeah. And I think, uh, unfortunately, you know, it’s one thing to copy good behavior, but now we’re copying others, poor behaviors sending out those messages. But you know, I’m like you get bombarded daily with products that I don’t even, I wouldn’t even use. And I know that they probably cast a net based on a, um, you know, some key word or something that they picked up.
But that’s the other thing that lets me know that they really, even, haven’t done much research on me and my needs because you know, they’re saying, Hey, I can sell you a bunch of, you know, PPE or something like that, that like, you know, totally not even close, but you know, and what it’s done, it spoiled it for those of us that try to use it in a responsible manner because now a lot of P it’s it’s become like email, I think, unless people know the person sending it a lot of times it’s just, uh, discarded anyway. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Michael (17:50):
And that’s where I say communication is so critical and more than ever because good communicators are really making, you know, are they’re making a great comeback because if they’re good communicators and they’re in this new unique environment, they start to stand out even better. Right. And that I think gives us a real competitive advantage is making sure we’re asking the right questions.
So, you know, I started, I joined this, uh, somebody invited me to join this, um, networking thing called lunch club. And it’s really interesting where you can be matched up with somebody once a week. And you just have a, you know, it was like going to have coffee with somebody and they’re trying to match you based on your interests and what you’re looking for. So it’s really sales, networking, or, you know, interacting, networking. But, um, I’ve had a couple meetings there that have been just phenomenal.
Michael (18:39):
One that was not, uh, you know, a right fit for me, but it was a great connection, enjoyed the conversation. Right. The next one I had was like a perfect match to several things we’re doing, not that I’m going to earn business from him, but there are synergies, there, there are opportunities to work there together. And that’s what I think is really, you know, is, is interesting, are the platforms and the tools that allow people to communicate and really talk. And then when people get there, they operate in the right mindset. There can be some great outcomes to this.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (19:09):
Right. So, um, what are some other overall strategies that you’re recommending to your in, you know, uh, I know that you, you said that you’ve kind of moved to that from the B2B to the B to C. So, um, you know, what, what are some strategies that you are putting out there to try to get people off to a fast start for the next year?
Michael (19:35):
Yeah, it’s really great timing that you’re asking this question because, um, I think I told you when we met before that, you know, I had to pivot my business because prior to COVID 95% of my business income came from me getting on an airplane to go speak or train somewhere around the world. And I always in the back of my mind had this desire to, to create an app. And I wanted an app because, you know, if you have any standing in front of a thousand people at a conference and everybody is like, Oh, we love you. We’re going to buy your books.
We’re going to follow you. You know, they might follow my podcast. They might read my book, all that, but eventually you kind of lose them. And I always, for years thought it only had an app and that, you know, I could say, Hey, if you want to keep in contact with me, my Cod casts, um, other trainings, lots of free stuff, some executive membership stuff, it’s all in one space.
Michael (20:26):
And so finally with COVID, uh, when the airplane stopped flying and all my conferences canceled, I said, okay, this is the time. And so we created this app and we, um, you know, we pushed it out just on beta test and we’re actually getting ready to release officially and begin actually marketing it, um, here next, but our beta test, uh, just with no marketing and advertising, we have a thousand download users all over the world. I think 25 different company countries.
And one of the things that I do on there is have what I call morning motivation. So it’s like a motivational message to help you get focused. And so the, the month of January is all about it’s a new year, keep a flexible focus. So how do you set realistic resolutions for your goal for yourself? What are your overarching goals? And so we’re breaking it down to the little bits and the steps of doing and things like, you know, realize that a resolution, the definite definition of a resolution is, um, is the, uh, the firm intent to either do something or stop doing something.
Michael (21:35):
And so that from intent is the question, is, are you just saying, I want to lose 30 pounds or you like, my firm intent is to get promoted this year. My firm intent is to get five new clients, you know, whatever it is, but to set it. And so I’ve been sharing with my, um, well, I just taped all the, the, uh, warning motivations for the first week. But my, my intent for this year for 2021 is to find synergy and balance between my business, my personal life and my relationship with myself.
Correct. And that is something that will drive success in all those areas of my life. And so I’m talking about those pieces of how you set that intent and you know, how do you get in the right frame of mind to even do it and what happens, you know, along the way when life starts getting in the way?
Michael (22:23):
Well, here we have an opportunity. And today I was just talking about scheduling for yourself, set setting time every day. So in 2021, every Monday afternoon, between two and five, I am fully dedicated to my own development. So that’s either doing, you know, working with a coach, that’s working, reading another book. That’s, um, that’s listening to other podcasts that are going to motivate me, but every week I’m going to dedicate time to myself, which sounds a little luxurious, but if I don’t do it, how will I ever continue to grow? So it’s really about setting intent, but then also following up with the actions that are going to get you there. Otherwise it’s just a great idea where 80% of people will be out of their resolution before January 31st.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (23:09):
No, and I think that’s a good point because, uh, you know, I was just talking to a gentleman the other day about, um, having that good work-life balance. And I think a lot of times we focus on work or family or home life, but we leave out focusing on ourselves. So I think that’s something very good to remember is that not only for self development, but self care, getting to the gym, you know, taking a walk, doing whatever we need to do to keep ourselves healthy.
And, you know, it’s funny, I found this a meme from a few years ago that I just posted yesterday that said, uh, I think it was, um, Zig Ziglar, but it was, uh, motivation doesn’t last. And then he says, but, um, you know, bathing doesn’t last either. That’s why we suggest you do it every day. So, you know, um, you know, yeah, right.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (24:02):
It’s like motivation. Isn’t just a January 1st pep talk. We give ourself and like, Ooh, we’re good. We’re done for the year. I mean, you know, somebody, uh, said successful entrepreneurship is not a gradual line up it’s up and down and up and down. And we have to continually find ways to not only improve ourselves, but to motivate ourselves every day or, you know, there’d be days like maybe today, then I would just check it up because, you know, my morning started out, my morning started out pretty rough, but, you know, we just have to, uh, celebrate ourselves, celebrate our victories and, uh, you know, learn to move past that.
But also the self-development, I think that’s a big thing for, uh, you know, a big thing we’ve learned. There’s a lot of success that has come out of 2020, and I don’t want to be little, um, the people who have been sick, the people that have been impacted with their jobs or lost loved ones that has been serious complications. But I think this is, uh, it’s been a real banner year for people who have been able to be creative and be able to pivot and maybe just look at things a little bit differently.
Michael (25:15):
Absolutely. And it takes, I love, I love your quote because it is so true that motivation comes in fits and spurts, but the only way to keep motivation flowing is to make sure you are working on it every day that you’re, you know, that you’re focused on it because wherever you look, that’s what you’re going to see. Right. And when we put it behind us or we push it over to the side, we don’t see it. So we’re not going to act on it. It won’t continue to grow inside of us. Right.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (25:40):
Yeah. And the other thing that you mentioned that I just, we, we were, you know, kind of bantering around the dinner table at Christmas, and somebody talked about, uh, a dream and, you know, it was, my mother actually is, you know, and, you know, I kind of use that quote on her that something like, uh, what is it that it, if you want to do something, it’s only a dream, unless you put a timeline on it and then you can make it a goal. So I think that’s important to, you know, really think about our time horizons, how long we have to be kind to ourself. We can’t say, ah, I’m going from zero to a hundred million, you know, by January 29th or something crazy, we have to be,
Michael (26:21):
Hey, Hey. And unless I win the Powerball,
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (26:25):
Exactly. You have to be kind to ourself and know what is realistic, but we also have to be sure and put those deadlines and keep that focus. It it’s hard because life is throwing us challenges every day, every minute. But we have to focus on, you know, I hate to always use cliches, but a lot of them are so pertinent. It’s like, you know, have a plan and what is it? Plan your work and work your plan. But you have to stick to it when you fall off of it. You have to have a roadmap to go back to, to say, you know, this is where I need to be, where I need to be focusing my attention.
Michael (27:01):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I totally agree.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (27:04):
Yeah. We can, uh, you know, focus on a lot of, um, activities that really don’t push us forward, bring us more revenue. It’s just busy work and, uh, you know, it may need to be done, but usually we can find others that can do it at a much more reasonable cost to, you know, not taking us away from our goals and where we need to be for sure.
Michael (27:28):
Abs. Absolutely. And I, you know, I, that’s one of the reasons that I’ve become so much more structured in my time and why I’m blocking more time in 2021 is that I can be easily distracted by shiny objects. Right. I’ve got a lot on my plate this year to accomplish. I can’t do it without, um, making sure I put my head down every once in a while.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (27:49):
Right. Yeah. And then it’s the, I guess the second part of that story is to, uh, reevaluate month in quarter and take, you know, some point in the future because things change just like we’ve seen this year. You know, if you had goals that you set out in January of 2020, uh, by March or April, things had probably changed quite a bit. And even in good times, we still have to, uh, you know, set that time limit to reevaluate. What are we doing? Is it working? Do we need to make changes, um, constant self evaluation,
Michael (28:26):
Hey man, I so agree.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (28:31):
Well, I do appreciate you taking time out of your day and the insight that you’ve provided. So tell me what is a tool or a habit or some kind of a ritual that you use every day, uh, either in your business life, personal life, but something that you couldn’t do without,
Michael (28:49):
Uh, meditation, meditation and mindfulness, without a doubt, I got into it probably about seven years ago. It has made the biggest difference in my stress levels in my sleep. And I do it every single day. Um, right now I use a, um, course, I always talk about this and I wish I was getting a kickback off of every exam. I recommend it, but there’s a gentleman. His name is Glenn Harold, and he does hypnosis meditation.
And he’s got a great app, um, that has just a ton of everything from, you know, they have sleep endings, they have waking endings. They have, you know, listen to these while you’re on a walk or a jog, just a variety of things. So everything from getting mental focus, to sleeping better, to helping you to lose weight or have a desire to exercise. Um, but there’s one I really love and it’s called raise your energy.
Michael (29:39):
And sometimes in the middle of the day, especially after lunch, I hit that, you know what I call post ed sleeping, you know, when the afternoon’s dragging and had lunch and then you don’t have the same urgency or energy you had in the morning. Right. And you know, you got to commit to this cause it’s 38 minutes, but I will lay down what on my headset, listen to that. And it puts you in a kind of hypnotic trance. I mean, you could still hear the, you know, uh, fire alarms went off. You don’t have them, but, but it, it really it’s like a little bit of a nap, but as it brings you out of it, cause it’s got a wake ending. I just feel like my entire energy is infused through my body.
And after I get done with that, the afternoons are just a joy. And I don’t think I ever looked at my afternoons as a joy before. Right. So if, if tomorrow he didn’t have that app available, I probably have a little bit of a minor panic attack just because I’ve learned how to do it a lot myself, but it really is something that reminds me to your point self-care is really important to me. And that really keeps my, my mind and my heart and my head space exactly. In alignment. Right.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (30:46):
Yeah. We can, um, you know, when we have that energy, we can be so much more productive and so much clear, you know, sometimes just take for me taking a simple walk for five minutes. It’s like, I, I have clarity like, Ooh, you know, I wasn’t couldn’t have even had this thought, you know, 10 minutes ago sitting in front of the computer. So self-care is definitely, um, definitely something we need to keep in mind going forward as well. So
Michael (31:14):
He’s also a really dynamic guy. I’ll just insert this real quick. But, um, I, I got the opportunity to interview him for my podcast and I’m so excited. It was like, you know, I was, I was fan girling. And uh, so he, he, uh, so in our app, in the shock, your potential app, we have a folder that’s called, um, uh, meditation corner or the meditation room. And in the meditation room, I have his interview and he also allowed us to put two of his meditations on our app. So they’re for sleep. And it’s amazing to me that after people have listened to that interview and listened to it and done the sleep meditation, I can’t tell you how many people from all over the world have said, thank you. I can’t believe how well I slept and I can’t wait to learn more.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (31:57):
Awesome. And so we can find that app in iTunes app store, Google, Google apps. Yeah. Okay.
Michael (32:05):
Just type on shuck your potential finally, very colorful logo. Okay.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (32:10):
Okay. I’ll put that in the show notes as well, where people can reach out and download that. So, uh, uh, if you don’t mind, take a minute, tell people, uh, who is your customer? What can you do for them? And of course, how can they reach out and get ahold of you?
Michael (32:27):
You bet. Well, I’ll take the last question from first, which you can find us at shockyourpotential.com and that will give you everything. Um, although if you are interested in our, um, in our remote staffing business, it’s called Kukula biz and that’s K U K U L A B I Z.com. And Kukula biz is where we’re matching talented professionals from Kenya, with small business owners all over the world.
But my, my customer is multi-faceted. Now, if you would’ve asked me a year ago, I would have said my primary customer is a company or an organization that wants me or my team to come in and train on leadership sales or any other element of, um, profess of customer experience. But today that is still my primary customer. My secondary customer is someone just like you, someone who needs motivation, who needs, you know, training, who just wants to have, you know, a lot of resources at your fingertips to help propel you professionally and business wise.
Michael (33:25):
And that’s where I, you know, as we really relaunched this app, um, it is, you know, we, our followers are our students in college. They are people who’ve been in the workforce for decades. They’re people in the C suite. There are people that are frontline salespeople in stores, you name it. And what we’re finding is that we are, we are becoming that place where if somebody wakes up tomorrow and they say, I have a job interview tomorrow, and I don’t know how to prepare for this, that we’ve got resources for them.
And it’s been, it’s been really, it’s been really fun. I mean, if somebody says, Hey, I don’t know how to manage stress, you know, in my life, uh, he, I don’t know how to have a difficult conversation with a coworker or with one employee. We’ve got those resources there. And so our, our goal is kind of world domination, I guess, that, you know, that the app would be in everybody’s hand and that’ll be the place that they say, how, what do I need to do to get a promotion? What do I need to do to, uh, you know, to, uh, get that new job? What do I need to do to prove that I’m ready for a leadership position and that, uh, it’ll be their go-to resource.
Roy – The Business of Business Podcast – Business Strategies, The First Step to Better Decisions and Actions (34:29):
Awesome. All right. Well, we’ll be sure and include that. Y’all go out and download it, reach out, give Michael a call and know that she can help you in a wide range from leadership to sales, to all of the above in the app. There be sh uh, you can find us of course, at, uh, www.the businessof businesspodcast.com We’re also on all the social media, Facebook, Google, I mean, Facebook, uh, Instagram and Twitter. Also, this will go live on YouTube as well. So again, Michael, thank you for your time until next time, take care of yourself and please take care of each other.
Listen to another great episode of The Business of Business Podcast here