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231: Cynthia Spence – Formula for Success in Interior Design: Business Skill, Integrity and A Personal Brand

Today, we have Cynthia Spence on show with us. She is the Principal of Cynthia Spence Design, which is a Full-Service Interior Design firm,  located in the San Francisco Bay Area and it caters to both Residential and Commercial clients. Cynthia feels that the world has become increasingly more noisy and so it’s really important to her to create environments that are both soothing and restorative for her clients. Today, she spends some time talking about how her previous career, in Marketing and Management positions in prominent Entertainment and High Tech companies, informs her Interior Design career. Listen in to find out more.

Although it’s not the typical route to Interior Design, Cynthia’s experience in Relationship Marketing, Creative Services, and Project Management has had a role to play in shaping her business and has also contributed largely towards its success. You will benefit from this experience too, as she really goes into a lot of detail about the skills and services that you need to have, in order to create a truly successful firm. Listen in now, to find out what Cynthia has to share with you.

Show highlights:

  • How Cynthia’s past career created a framework and positioned her perfectly for an Interior Design business.
  • Why the skill of listening is really so important, in the Interior Design business.
  • Cynthia explains her approach to her clients because every client is really uniquely different.
  • Some of the nuts and bolts of how Cynthia’s management experience informed her, when she started out with her own business, twelve years ago.
  • Why you really need to take great care of your vendors– and even possibly defend them at times.
  • Creating the right balance between your strengths and weaknesses.
  • The real value in making mistakes.
  • The importance of ethical behavior, honour, and integrity, for your business.
  • Cynthia explains how her business is set up and what it looks like.
  • How to let your client know that you have their project under control. (Even if it doesn’t seem that way for you at the time!)
  • Some advice about home automation, for new Designers.
  • Cynthia talks about her super powers.
  • What made Cynthia transition her career to Interior Design.
  • The better you are at what you do, the more in demand your services will be.
  • Why it takes a lot of resilience, to start your own business.
  • Learning to stand in your client’s shoes, to really understand them.
  • Cynthia’s goals for the next few years.
  • Cynthia discusses the creative aspects of working as an Interior Designer.
  • Some advice for people who are trying to work out how to market their firm.
  • The type of aesthetic that Cynthia prefers.
  • Spinning your own take on a particular style.
  • Creating your own brand.

If you have used any Kravet product recently, take a picture of it, post it to social media, use the hashtag #instakravet and tag Kravet, as they will repost some of them.

Links:

Her social media: https://twitter.com/CynthiaSpenceSF #itsallabouttheedit https://www.instagram.com/cynthiaspencedesign/

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230: Maria Viola-Kutruff – Should You be an Adjunct Professor at an University?

My guest today is Maria V. Kutruff, principal of Viola Interior Design, which is located in the Philadelphia area. Over the last 14 years, Maria’s work has ranged from designing custom furniture to designing office spaces to the renovation of entire residences. She is active in the American Society of Interior Designers, having served on its board and received several awards. She received her master’s degree in Interior Architecture and Design from Drexel University, where she currently teaches design at the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design. Our focus today is around what it takes to be an adjunct professor, including the pros, the cons, and the nitty gritty. Join us!

What you’ll hear in this episode:

  • Why the curriculum is set up to help design students explore their creativity
  • Our goal in teaching design: to learn about design first and then budget issues
  • Advice to all design students: Take a business class not related to design
  • Why Maria chooses to be an adjunct professor
  • Stay open to new ideas and stay relevant!
  • New things outside your comfort zone
  • The endless possibilities in networking and connection
  • Requirements to be an adjunct professor and the process in acquiring this position
  • How to reach out to colleagues and cultivate a relationship with a university
  • How to prepare your curriculum and how to teach it
  • The time commitment required as an adjunct each week
  • When mature decisions have to be made about balancing a design business and teaching
  • Term-by-term flexibility as an adjunct
  • Build up your credibility as a new adjunct
  • The possibility that exists in having a full-fledged design career along with a corollary career as an adjunct
  • Get to know people and bring value to them

Resources:

Drexel University Interior Design Program: https://drexel.edu/westphal/academics/undergraduate/INTR/   Maria’s website: https://violainteriordesign.com   Email Maria: maria@violainteriordesign.com

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229: Power Talk Friday: Jody Padar – How To Hire & Talk With a CPA

Interior Design Business Podcast A Well-Designed Business® LuAnn Nigara

The guest for today’s Power Talk Friday is Jody Padar. She’s a CPA and she also has a podcast called ‘Let’s Get Radical’, so she goes by the name ‘The Radical CPA’. Jody is the CEO and the Principal of New Vision CPA Group, which is a Public Accounting firm based in the Chicago area. Jody joined her father’s firm more than ten years ago and today, we talk with her about what happened when she first joined, what it was like and what transpired from that. Listen in to find out more about Jody’s radical approach to accounting and how it can really be of benefit to you, in your business.

 

LuAnn knows that at times, we all have to hear the same thing a number times before the light bulb actually goes on in our heads. Jody, as The Radical CPA, has a very different way of going about helping business owners and small businesses to navigate their way around the accounting side of their businesses and stay on track. It’s a far cry from the old and staid model of accounting and this is why LuAnn has invited her on the show today, to put the bug in your ear again and to remind you that it really is time to grow up and do things right in your business. So, listen in now, for some great insights from Jody, about how accounting technology can really work for you, in your business.

 

 

Show highlights:

 

  • Jody talks about what it was like when she joined her father’s firm and what happened there, once she joined. 
  • The realization that Jody had about her business ten years ago, as a result of working with all the new technology and software that became available to her through the internet.
  • How Jody banded together with other young CPA’s seven years ago and they became coined as a movement of doing things in a different way- or Radical CPA’s.
  • The value and insight that a CPA should be bringing to a business, should be in in the forward-looking and the cash flow projections and helping to build the business.
  • In the past, CPA’s were so busy doing things, that they didn’t have the time to step back and work in an advisory capacity. Now however, they can work in that capacity, because the technology is doing all the work that they used to have to do.
  • What you, as small business owners or Interior Designers, need to know, in order to ask an Accountant or CPA the right questions. 
  • If you’re still living in a paper world, the first thing is that you have to automate, because the power is in the data.
  • Working with Cloud Based Accounting. You can put the information in and the technology (the software program) does 85% of the work.
  • Jody suggests using Quick Books Online, or Zero. These will allow both you and your Accountant to log in to your data.
  • Working with your Accountant, in order to realise your goals– It’s important to think about where you want to go, in your business, because the way that your Accountant is going to work with you, will be based on your values.
  • Why Jody thinks that CPA’s stand in the best position, as Business Coaches.
  • Accounting is the language of business, so you need to be open to the advice of your Accountant, to face the facts and grow your business.
  • It’s very important to find the right Accountant- the one that you can really relate to.
  • New school Accountants are building advisory into their practices.
  • It’s best to work with an Accountant who is working in a timely manner, in real time.
  • You want to be talking to your Accountant four times a year, at minimum.
  • Most Radical CPA’s work in a fixed fee model, charging a subscription based monthly fee. This is to encourage communication.
  • Your choice of entity is your number one tax saving factor. 
  • Sales tax is a huge issue, so you, as Designers really need to talk to a professional about this. 
  • Avalara.com is a great place to go to check out the Sales Tax Laws.
  • You need to keep trying until you find the Accountant who is exactly the right fit for you and your business.

 

Links:

 

Jody’s website: https://www.newvisioncpagroup.com 

 

You can listen to Jody’s podcast, Let’s Get Radical, on iTunes or Stitcher.

 

Jody on Twitter: @jodypadarcpa 

 

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228: Kamila Gornia – Facebook Coaching Sessions – FB Ads Demystified

Today we have Kamila Gornia, a Digital Marketing Strategist, on the show and she’s here to help demystify Facebook Ads for us. LuAnn is particularly interested in this topic, because she herself, doesn’t have a very good grasp on it. This means that she’s tended to put the brakes on with the use of social media in her business, not really knowing if it would be effective enough to be worth spending money on. However, with all the reading and listening that she’s been doing around this topic recently, she feels that the time has now come to get to understand it. LuAnn tends to make the assumption that if she’s struggling to understand something, then others out there will surely be too, so listen in today, as Kamila helps you to understand how Facebook Ads really work.

When Kamila was only twelve years old and still living in a small town in Poland, she got her first computer. This was very exciting for her, so she dove right in and got a little nerdy. She’s the kind of person who, if she sees something that seems exciting to do, she just does it! So she learned HTML and created her first website around Japanese Manga and Anime comic books (not very popular in Poland), and started marketing– without even realizing that that was what she was doing! Her approach to it was very organic and the response that she got via the chat room culture of the time was great, so it actually took off. She found it pretty easy to bring on volunteers to help her to make this available to other people, because everyone was so excited about being part of this really cool venture, even though there was no money being made. She actually managed to get to forty thousand views, without any social media or pay traffic, in less than five months! Listen in now, to find out from Kamila how you can really get Facebook Ads to work for you and your Interior Design Business.

Show highlights:

  • Kamila explains about the two different camps of people when it comes to paid advertising on Facebook.
  • Kamila explains the first things you need to know and have in place, before spending any money or putting your toe into the water of the ads and the paid portion of Facebook.
  • Crafting an offer (or funnel) that you can send the Facebook Ads traffic to.
  • You need to have a very specific and focused way of getting the traffic to your website, so Kamila gives you some really great options for this.
  • Understand that with your email list, you are actually building an asset.
  • Kamila gives some ideas for Interior Designers to create and grow a following.
  • Why Kamila really likes creating quizzes.
  • A mistake that many people tend to do, with making things DIY.
  • Using E-books, Training Programs, Questionaires or Schedule a Call, to create a Call to Action to drive traffic to your website.
  • The Design Industry is very visual, which makes the process a lot easier.
  • Designing your Call to Action, based on your goals.
  • How to format your Call to Action, through using Facebook Ads.
  • Understanding who you’re targeting and also what people will be seeing, with your Facebook Ads.
  • What a Carousel Ad
  • The images are the most important thing with Facbook Ads, then after that comes the headline and ad copy.
  • Get straight to the point, with the copy in your ad.
  • Working with Conversion Objective Ads, using pixels. (You can download a Facebook Pixel plug in.)
  • How to add a snippet of code on your Thank You Page, to turn a conversation into a lead. This can be a more profitable way to do things.
  • Understanding who your ads are going to be shown in front of- either a warm audience or a cold one.
  • Creating a warm audience on your website, through using pixels with your Facebook advertising.
  • What it would cost you, to create  Facebook Ads. The prices really vary a lot.
  • How much to budget for, if you’re new to Facebook Advertising.

Resources:

Kamila’s website: https://www.kamilasocial.com

Her podcast: The Kamila Gornia Show: Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Leadership with Heart Behind Hustle

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227: Candy Scott – Practical Advice to Launch, Grow and Sustain Your Interior Design Business

Interior Design Business Podcast A Well-Designed Business® LuAnn Nigara

My guest for today’s amazing show is Candy Scott, the Principal of MOOD Design + Build, based in Chicago. She gives practical advice on launching, growing, and sustaining an interior design business. Candy has 15 years’ experience in both commercial and residential design. She graduated from Meredith College in Raleigh, NC, with a BS in Interior Design. You’ll hear her describe how her early experience working with a large developer and  with large corporate clients, outfitting high-rise condominiums, lobbies, model homes, and showrooms all contributed to some of the principles and lessons she brings to her own business. She founded MOOD Design + Build in 2014, and continues to work with residential clients and small business owners with their homes, offices, and small-scale commercial interiors.

Show highlights:

  • Candy’s background and experience after design school
  • Benefits to working at a furniture store, learning customer service and different segments of the business
  • Making mistakes in the early years: “falling down and getting back up again”
  • The consciousness it takes to “get out of the drama”
  • Finding the place of relating to clients, vendors, and contractors with a sense of mutuality
  • Meeting clients where they are: hearing their frustrations and fear
  • The range of services offered by MOOD Design + Build
  • How the design phase and the build phase differ
  • Breaking down a project into smaller increments and tracking the data
  • How to be the go-to for referrals for the business that larger firms don’t want
  • Why you must attend networking events
  • Weekly sales activity: why you can’t let this part of your business go
  • Developing relationships with realtors
  • Candy’s blog post with 7 Initial Questions for Developing a Beautiful Space and 5 Steps to Making a Beautiful Space (check out her website!)

Resources:

Candy’s website and blog:

https://www.modddesignbuild.com

Her Twitter: https://twitter.com/CandyScott_

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226: Power Talk Friday: Fred Berns – 5 Keys to a Fabulous Fall

917 Power Talk Friday Fred Berns The Five Things All Successful People Do Thumbnail.png

Great news! We have Fred Berns back on the show today, for Power Talk Friday! Fred has been with LuAnn in episodes #22, #48, #96 and #174, so they really go way, way back! If you’re new to this show, you have a really great treat in store, because Fred is a Coach, specializing in the Interior Design Industry. He has been coaching and writing promotional copy for Interior Designers for more than thirty years and he is the only Interior Design Business Coach and Speaker who creates promotional materials and personal bio’s for Design Professionals, right across the world. Listen in to find out more.

LuAnn just adores Fred, who has really brought so much value to the Design Industry! He creates online profiles, websites, social media copy, blogs, and marketing forums.  Fred believes that the Fall, which he calls The Prime Time For Promotion For Designers, to be the very best time of year for Design Professionals to market themselves. Today, Fred and LuAnn discuss ways that you can sell yourself to the same customers and clients that you have, and also to some new ones, so listen in now, as we find out from Fred why he believes this to be the very best time for you to be promoting your business.

Show highlights:

  • Fred explains why he sees the Fall as the time for gold.
  • Fred explains his concept of a September Letter and what should go into it.
  • The main motive behind the September Letter is to re-introduce yourself to the market place and to remind them about the fabulous services that you have to offer, with your new, killer bio.
  • All the different people that you could send a September Letter to.
  • What Fred sees as the number one obstacle for Design Professionals around the world.
  • Some great ideas for Fall Specials.
  • Fred’s thoughts on giving special offers, without having to lower your fees.
  • Snail mail sometimes has more impact than emails.
  • Fred goes over his Champions Checklist.
  • LuAnn gives some great ideas for Marketing yourself in the Fall and building your networking muscle.
  • Fred reminds you that you miss a hundred percent of the shots you didn’t take.
  • What your blog posts need to be addressing, right now.
  • Some ideas for a Fall Fix Up Session.
  • More good reasons for marketing yourself in the Fall.
  • Both Fred and LuAnn are going to be at America’s Mart, in Atlanta, in the last week of September.
  • If you’re looking for some help with your September Letter, or with your Fall Strategy, go to biobriefing.com for a thirty-minute session with Fred.

Links:

His website: InteriorDesignBusiness.net Fred’s Email:Fred@FredBerns.com

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225: Live Coaching Course with LuAnn: Money, Mindset & Sales

1119 What Would Lu Do This Is The Difference Between Business Owners Who Wait And Those Who Act Thumbnail.png

You’re probably wondering what LuAnn’s doing here on a Thursday, right? Well, this is a news flash that needed it’s own show and its own announcement,  so here it is: LuAnn, together with Nancy Ganzekaufer, the first person on the show to introduce the concept of niching in Interior Design (episode #9), is launching a ten week, Live Coaching Session and it’s called Money, Mindset And  Sales. LuAnn really wants to make sure that you’ve heard about it and that you have the chance to be in on this program, so listen in now- it’s going to be killer!

Nancy and LuAnn hatched this idea about a week and a half ago after they had a conversation about how they both love talking to people and teaching them about sales and they’ve been discussing this idea, almost constantly, since then. They also really love to see the breakthrough when someone has a shift in mindset about something, so they made a snap decision to do a Coaching Session together. No grass grows under their feet, so listen in to find out how to really kick it out and bring it home in this year of 2017.

Show highlights:

  • Nancy was back on the show for episode #159 and there she gave a list of what you need to do, to get really confident and clear on what you offer to your Interior design clients.
  • LuAnn explains how the program, which is starting on the 13th of September, is going to work.
  • Every session will be recorded and made available to you in your inbox, on that day, in case the time zone doesn’t work for you.
  • You will also have access to LuAnn and Nancy through a Facebook Group, for your questions.
  • There will be a limited number of people accepted for this program.
  • The two free coaching sessions that you will get with this program.
  • Together, LuAnn and Nancy have fifty years of experience in high ticket sales.
  • LuAnn explains what her goals are, for this program.
  • LuAnn discusses two more goodies that you will get, with this program.
  • LuAnn talks about her book, The Making Of A Well Designed Business.
  • LuAnn discusses Nancy’s fifteen module course, called Nail Your Sales Training.
  • LuAnn gives you the cost of their Money, Mindset, And Sales coaching session.
  • Go to windowworks-nj.com/breakthrough for all the information and to see a video of LuAnn and Nancy describing the course.
  • This course can really help you to kill it in the last quarter of 2017!

Links:

windowworks-nj.com/breakthrough

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224: Rachelle DiCecco – Certified Cruelty Free Design – Course Graduate

Today is the third show in the series which has been sponsored by Certified Cruelty Free Design, which is the heart project and brainchild of Deborah Rosenberg, of DiMare Design in Miami, Florida. If this is the first time that you’re listening to this show, you can go back and listen to #82, where we met Deborah Rosenberg, to find out more about her and how she runs her business.

Then, in episode #117, she explains in detail about the CEU Course that she created, in Certified Cruelty Free Design. Then there is the sponsored show, with this being the third show of that series. In episode #212, Deborah spoke about her Course and about why it’s so important for you to consider, as a Designer. In episode #218, Deborah explained the resources and marketing of Certified Cruelty Free Design. Go back and listen in, because all these shows are really well worth listening to.

Today, we get to meet Rachelle DiCecco, an Interior Design Student in Australia. Rachelle is in her final semester and when she heard about Certified Cruelty Free Design, she decided to take the course. On the show today, Rachelle shares her impressions of the course and her opinions about its content and also, how she expects to make use of it in her career as an Interior Designer. Listen in now, to find out more about the ins and outs of Deborah’s Certified Cruelty Free Design Course.

Show highlights:

  • Rachelle explains what compelled her to take the course. She found no other course like it when doing her research.
  • Rachelle explains, in practical terms, how one goes about taking the course, the time it takes and what it consists of. The course is extremely flexible and you can jump in and out of it whenever you want to, so it’s very easy to work with.
  • Rochelle talks about the content of the course. There was way more content there than she expected to find.
  • Rochelle explains about the fantastic support system which has been set up for everyone taking the course, all around the world.
  • Rochelle found that she was completely satisfied with the whole course.
  • Rachelle talks about the impact that the course has had on her and what she’s come to realize, since taking it.
  • The kind of responsibility that follows the Cruelty Free awareness.
  • How Rachelle intends to incorporate what she’s learned in the course, into her future career.
  • The great response from Rachelle’s lecturers, towards her taking the course.
  • How Rachelle intends to deal with clients who want to use leather or other non-sustainable products.
  • Becoming part of this worldwide socially conscious, ethical network was a really huge thing for Rachelle. It’s way bigger than she previously thought.
  • Rachelle will never look furniture in quite the same way again.
  • The vast amount of ethical alternatives that Rachelle intends to bring to the attention of her future clients.

Links:

Rachelle’s Website: Certified Cruelty Free   Her Twiter: Cert Cruelty-Free

Dimare Design

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223: Allison Fannin – Pinterest Tips for your Interior Design Firm

allison fannin

The guest on today’s show is Allison Fannin, the Texan Principal of Two Thirty-Five Designs. LuAnn invited her on the show for a very specific reason- and then, while researching her, she discovered that Allison actually had twenty-seven thousand followers on Pinterest! Allison graciously agreed to make the focus of today’s discussion about the figuring out of the whole Pinterest thing. So, listen in, as LuAnn and Allison pick this topic apart. 

In episode #209, LuAnn interviewed Leslie Carothers and Sam Henderson, of the Savour Partnership. During that interview, Leslie pointed out that if you’re not using Pinterest to drive traffic to your website, you’re actually missing the boat. LuAnn didn’t even know how to do that, so she took some steps to find out. Then, shortly afterward, she received a message from Darla Powell, asking if she was going to get a Pinterest expert on the show. LuAnn decided that if she and Darla were both wanting to find out about it, most likely you were too.  So listen in now, to find out more about how to use Pinterest and also Instagram and Facebook, to drive traffic to your website.

Show highlights:

  • LuAnn explains how she and Allison came to be connected, through a crazy picture and caption on Magazine Living, on Instagram.
  • Allison’s huge number of followers on Pinterest and Instagram, where she herself, only follows a fraction of that number of people.
  • Allison talks about how Pinterest, which has really become a massive search engine, has evolved, over the years.
  • Allison explains how Pinterest works and how you can use it best, to get more traffic.
  • Group Boards on Pinterest.
  • Allison explains why she has so many more followers on Pinterest than the number of people that she follows, herself.
  • The amount of time that Allison actually spends on Pinterest.
  • Allison explains how Pinterest works, as a technical driver of traffic to your website.
  • Using Rich Pins and Keywords for SEO, when using Pinterest.
  • Why it’s a good idea to have a Business Account on Pinterest.
  • How Rich Pins work in conjunction with your website.
  • Why you should put your blog name in the title of your pictures.
  • Pinterest has become a lot like Instagram- it’s really about the pretty stuff.
  • The method of using re-pins effectively, for a constant flow, on Pinterest.
  • Titling your pictures properly on Pinterest, for optimum SEO.
  • You can follow selectively, on Pinterest.
  • Using basic words to name your Boards on Pinterest.
  • There are several services that you can use, (like Boardbooster) to schedule out your pins on Pinterest.
  • You can go back to old posts and edit them- don’t forget to re-pin when you do!
  • Coming up with the right titles for Pinterest posts.
  • Using subtitles on Pinterest.
  • How Allison’s following on Pinterest and Instagram has translated into money for her.           

Links:

Allison’s website: https://www.twothirtyfivedesigns.com

Allison on Facebook and Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/magazineliving/

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222: Power Talk Friday: Lee Cockerell- Customer Service the Disney Way

Lee Cockerell Disney

On today’s episode of Power Talk Friday, LuAnn has an absolutely ridiculous treat for you!  She has Lee Cockerell with her, who’s name may or may not be familiar to you… He has spent his career leading operations all over the world, for Hilton Hotels, Mariott Hotels, and Walt Disney Company.

He spent more than twenty years with the Walt Disney Company, where he ultimately became Executive Vice President of Walt Disney World Operations. Since then, he has gone on to form his own company,  where he shares what he has learned and he makes available his breakthrough methods for becoming a better manager and a great leader. LuAnn is really busting at the seams because this is truly her kind of topic!  Lee is also has a podcast called Creating Disney Magic, where he shares his Disney experiences in an effort to help people like you become better leaders and managers. 

(Episode no.1 of that podcast is a really interesting one, where Lee literally goes through his entire career.)  At Disney, they created an environment where every employee matters and they know they matter. In addition to that, he has written four books, called Creating  Magic- Ten Common Sense Leadership Strategies From A Life At Disney,  The Customer Rules-Thirty Nine Essential Rules For Delivering Sensational Customer Service, Time Management Magic- How To Get More Done Every Day And More From  Surviving To Thriving  and his latest book, Creating Career Magic- How To Stay On Track And Create A Stellar Career. There are three things that Lee and his team do better than everybody else, which really makes all the difference, they hire better, they train better and they treat them (their employees) better. That is the key that either creates success for most organizations or not, according to Lee. Listen in now, as LuAnn (who is literally beyond herself right now) talks to Lee about his thoughts and processes, on the show today.

There are three things that Lee and his team do better than everybody else, which really makes all the difference, they hire better, they train better and they treat them (their employees) better. That is the key that either creates success for most organizations or not, according to Lee. Listen in now, as LuAnn (who is literally beyond herself right now) talks to Lee about his thoughts and processes, on the show today.

Show highlights:

  • Lee talks about his philosophy around ways to really set your organization apart, in the eyes of your customers and your employees. It’s really important to be very clear about your level of expectations.
  • According to Lee, there are three things that you have to have, to be successful– You have to have a skill, you have to have the right positive attitude and you have to have passion.
  • Hire slow and fire fast.
  • Disney has a hundred and thirty questions that potential employees have to answer, before even being granted an interview. Lee relates some of these to a Designer, or a small firm, considering making their first hire. (His book, The Customer Rules, has a chapter on how to hire the right people.) In Lee’s opinion, most people don’t know how to conduct a proper interview.
  • Lee recommends reading Don’t Hire Anyone Without Me, by Carol Quinn, to help you to hire the right people.
  • Obstacles are the name of the game. The way people have handled obstacles in the past will be a good indicator of how they deal with them in the future.
  • Lee talks about training people the Disney way. Everything matters! A bad employee will kill your business.
  • The key to great training is remembering that the customer is more important than anything else! Everyone needs to understand where they fit in and how they matter.
  • All Disney contractors go through the same training as their employees.
  • Lee explains his concept of firing fast. Be careful who you hire!
  • When you’re clear with people, you get better performance.
  • People only change for two reasons- education, or crisis.
  • It’s important for your employees to understand that when you pull them up about something, you’re only coming to them to help them to be better.
  • Role modeling is very important for employees (and children!)
  • Lee’s advice for great time management. Discipline and a good system for planning are really most important here. Fix yesterday, every day, before it gets out of control because regrets are really tough to handle. (This is reflection.)
  • Excellence is a state of mind.
  • Provide Free Fuel for your employees every day: Appreciation, Recognition, and Encouragement. You can hand these three out all day, to increase your employee’s levels of commitment.
  • Fix one thing you’ve been putting off for years-next week!
  • Do things on purpose. Life will get a whole lot better, real quick!
  • People really notice a good attitude and discipline.

Link: 

Lee’s website: https://www.leecockerell.com

His podcast: Creating Disney Magic https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/creating-disney-magic-lessons-in-leadership-management/id954054965?mt=2