Perspective

For my Jewish friends, today starts the beginning of a new year. Sort of paraphrasing what I’ve heard before, I think a great way to start any year is to remember:

Each of us, is a piece of this world, a part of the whole package, individually not very important. So it’s not about what we think we deserve, it is about what we can give and what we can share, that’s when you become significant as a piece of the whole.

Give your time, your energy and your talent (when you can and even to the point it hurts) and you will be surprised at the impact you have.. Whether it’s you personally or your company. If you do it without thought for what you will receive in return, everything you ever wanted comes to you in time.

What kind of footprints are you leaving?

Helping the Homeless Get a Job, One Outfit at a Time

Some people are impressive, and then some people are IMPRESSIVE. My client YourAutoNetwork.com and it’s owners are two of those people.

Husband and wife, Cary and Carole Lockwood are partnering with the Salvation Army to promote a month-long clothing drive for homeless families who live at the Kaiser Family Center, home to about 450 families a year. Okay, so a lot of companies give back. What’s impressive is that Carole and Cary have set up donation boxes at 50 of their member business locations. This means that they have personally driven to each location, set up a bin and are out there asking for donations…all by themselves. They have locations as far away as Surprise, north to Cave Creek, south to Queen Creek, east to Apache Junction and everything in between. That’s a lot of driving. The Kaiser Family Center is also about commitment.  Residents are required to find work within 2 weeks of residing in the shelter. To assist them the Center provides services designed to get them moving forward quickly.  In that spirit, the donation drive is designed to find clothes suitable for residents to wear on interviews and hopefully to land that job. The clothing is also needed to supply them with day to day work clothes.  Wanna help? Click here for drop off locations.

Susan Felt of the Arizona Republic did a compelling story about the Kaiser Family Center back in January.  I’d sure love to know where those families are today who Susan met.  They represent but a few of the families who are collateral damage from the “economy of greed,” which will forever be identified with the new millennium.

Back to Carole and Cary. Philanthropy seems to be a natural extension of their business philosophy .  YourAutoNetwork.com was founded as an online directory where consumers can find the best automotive related companies in the Valley, and I mean the best. Unlike other directories that let any company buy onto their listing, YourAutoNetwork hand selects only those businesses that been in the Valley for at least 10 years, carry an A rating or better from the Better Business Bureau and also pass a rigorous vetting process. Any hanky panky and you’re out, period.

By the way, the listing is free to access by consumers. So instead of seeing glowing reviews by people who could be a repair shop’s wife, cousins or friends, you’ll find very few comments from consumers.  Instead, there are straight forward facts and the reasonable assurance you’ll find a business you can trust.

Cary is a former GM Engineer who has spent his life making sure cars are safe. He also hosts a car-talk radio show on KXXT AM and KXEG AM.  He’s a one-man ‘click and clack’ with just as much energy and humor as the other, well-known pair.  Check him out, he’s very entertaining.

I have the best job in the world.  I only work with interesting people who know that my job is to tell great stories.  I don’t sell anything.  I like to think that I make the world a better place because I connect reporters with people who have great stories.  I’m just the guy in the middle.  And to anyone who’s thinking this is very Polly Anna of me, as Robert Ruskin said: “The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.” Me, I’d rather surround myself with people who are always becoming.  Don’t you?

Feeding Frenzy

We all need to eat
With swollen bellies
Devour as much as we can
From life

No regretful moaning bitchiness
Tongue depressed silence
Or falsified testimony
Will ever replace the simile substitution
Of honest living
john doe plain and tall and simply stated

Colors one by one
Are more brilliant than tumbled hues
Begging for noticed complexity
But are really just empty and stupid

We all need to eat
And grab what we politely can
And taste what comes
Preciously
and fatten ourselves with
all we see and then some

Tony Felice

May I have a minute of your time?

Last Wednesday night my client, Howard Fleischmann from Community Tire & Auto won the Better Business Bureau’s Business Ethics Award in his category. The evening, hosted at the Biltmore included a special key note speaker, Ken Blanchard, author of The One Minute Entrepreneur. Ken shared with us his brilliant insight into what makes a true entrepreneur and what success really means. Success is not about what you achieve, but what you give to the world. The content of one’s character is measured by how much one loves not how much one gets.

I wish I could go into his entire presentation but instead I urge you to read his book. These are the main points I took with me from that evening.

What every entrepreneur should practice…the four Ps.

Purpose: lengthy, sleep-inducing mission statements aside. What is your purpose? You should be able to describe it in just a few words. For me, it’s: Delivering results for my clients by telling great stories.

Principle: When faced with any decision ask your self these three questions. 1) is it legal? 2) is it fair? 3) is it something you would want to see written about you on the front page of the newspaper?

Persistence: Instead of hanging a shingle out there and expecting business to come your way you have to go after it and have the tenacity that delivers results.

Perspective: Be willing to look at the big picture and cast a critical eye on yourself, your company, your purpose and your people. Surround yourself with people that complement you. Personally, my own belief is “there is no one smarter than all of us.”

I will add one more P, Positive. Humans are the only creatures in existence gifted with the power of speech. To speak words is to give them and the ideas they express, power. We hear about the power of attraction, and of course “the secret,” was part of nearly every water-cooler conversation last year. But being positive also includes personal responsibility and action. Speak only positive things. Remove no, not and don’t from your vocabulary and instead focus on what you do want. Be kind and generous with your mind, your talent and your time. The five Ps will eventually culminate into one P

… Peace.

Happy Birthday to Us!

Happy Birthday Tony Felice PR & Marketing

This month marks the first anniversary of Tony Felice PR & Marketing (though I’ve been around the block for more than 25). This first year I have learned a lot about myself and what it means to be an entrepreneur. So I’d like to share this short list with you.

1. Security & Comfort are Overrated. Getting out there and doing what you love takes risk. Without it, freedom, choices and being able to shape your own destiny may always be out of reach.

2. Get out there. The world is owned by those who show up right? This means you have to show up and be present. Go to events, meet people and share–don’t pitch you or your business, just be fun to be around and enjoy the company of others.

3. Give back. Volunteer and find the things that you feel passionately about. You get what you put out there, I honestly believe that.

4. Be generous. Share ideas and resources with the people you want to do business with or media you want to cover your stories. It’s not always about self-serving choices, it’s about being a resource to those from whom you may need something in the future.

5. You cannot care too much. I’ve often been criticized by past employers that I care too much and go way beyond what is expected. I couldn’t disagree more. In fact it violates my own personal principles. Late nights, early mornings, dropping everything for an interview, making oneself uncomfortable and stretching your limits…that’s what breeds success.

6. Be a leader. Take responsibility for everything and be accountable. Motivate by example, make the tough decisions, work hard and be impeccable with your word.

7. Celebrate others. By celebrating the successes of your clients and friends you draw that positive energy into your life and your business.

8. Don’t dwell on the negative. Get rid of all energy suckers–whether clients or friends and stick to your ethics. This year I fired my highest paying client for being unethical. I never looked back.

9. Be grateful. Appreciate the greatest achievement of all, the desire to be better as a person and as an entrepreneur.  It’s the power of positive intention followed by action and measured as results.  Thank yourself for it.

10. Have Faith. You did this because you believe in yourself right? Have faith that others will be inspired by the confidence you have in yourself and your commitment to others.

This year has been frightening, exhilarating, frustrating, overwhelming, and enriching. My breath catches when I think of tomorrow, my heart beats in my chest with the rhythm of uncertainty’s staccato and I dream of possibility, what is, and what will be.