An incredible afternoon on life and opportunities with Joan Detz

I saw Joan Detz @joandetz speak at a financial professional convention in DC two years ago. Is she a financial expert, a numbers specialist or a metrics expert? No; she is an incredible lady who has devoted her life to training and coaching people for all corners of the world and trades in different fields on the art of #PublicSpeaking. And after seeing how she did it and what she accomplished I needed to meet her, but I could not do it at the convention.

But wait; I am a simple guy living in a foreign country who happened to be in DC at that time. How will I meet her? Come possibilities: I contacted her with the advancement of technology. So after getting in touch I sent her some of my work (I am sure she needed to find out who this crazy person form Venezuela was). So back in late 2014 we started exchanging emails, got on a phone conversation and as they say, it was the start of a beautiful friendship; and indeed it has continued to be.

Fast forward two years, I have had incredible phone conversations with Joan, I have interviewed her on my internet radio show on two incredible subjects, public speaking tips and social media tools and how you can boost your life and careers using them and both are on the top list of my all time shows. And best of all, I was able to visit with Joan last week in New York to what I call a wonderful afternoon. We had lunch, we went to the New York Public Library, we saw old maps, and we strolled down Bryant Park. But best of all, we had an amazing but very short five-hour conversation; and it was incredible.

What do you speak with such an experienced, traveled and fabulous person? We talked about life’s journeys, we talked about the change in technology, age, knowledge, wisdom, politics, and life again and we talked about dreams, those fuzzy things you can actually convert into reality. We talked about peace and quiet, life on the countryside and on the complicated city life; and we talked about how we take things for granted, yes we all do. It was a deep thoughtful powerful conversation.

And this is what friendship is all about. It is a different kind of friendship, a beautiful one. It is not your friends form high school or college whom after a while you stopped seeing; it is the new friends you met along the path you cross, that you allow into your life, and what an incredible idea is it to invite new friends into your life. And we choose those friends, people who like us want better, look for nature’s beauty, who engage on interesting conversations which are very meaningful, important, thoughtful, wonderful and all together transformational.

This and more was my NY afternoon with Joan Detz. What an honor, what a pleasure. I flew in from Venezuela; she took a train ride from Pennsylvania. Was it worth it? Indeed and it was too short of a conversation on life’s journeys, on health, opportunities and future, with passion and vision and ideas and thoughts and dreams and why not, a touch of reality here and there. And what a wonderful friendship it has become. 

Joan, keep inspiring people, keep being a wonderful friend.

Luis Vicente

FocalPoint Coaching: Training week 2015!

What will FocalPoint coaches and trainers have in common next week? We will all be dedicated to training and facilitating managerial and entrepreneurial growth throughout the world.

Yes, the week of November 16^th- 20^th will be dedicated to training business owners, entrepreneurs, executives and managers in many areas, from setting goals, to time management techniques to improving sales; also many of us will be training in personal and professional development and peak performance. This is what we - at FocalPoint Coaching -do all year round; however for the first time we are dedicating a full week to training and, more importantly, will do it all over the world.

Our goal is to help more people grow, achieve their goals faster and feel more empowered with engaged team members. This is why we are inviting as many people as possible to join us next week in the many places and cities throughout the world to grow both personally and professionally.  Now is the time to take massive action and go start unleashing your peak performance levels.

International Training Week is next week! We will also be donating 10% of proceeds to children's cancer research. This is why training is also very important to all of us as we contribute constantly to improve the lives of others as well.

We will be delivering training and coaching sessions in several cities simultaneously, like in different places in the US and Canada, and in cities as Sydney, London, Singapore and New Delhi, India. I myself will be training teams in my home city of Caracas, Venezuela on Monday and then will be flying to Nicaragua for a series of training and coaching events in Managua with Alejandro and Margarita Pasos from SuccessFactor in Nicaragua. A very interesting week indeed!

Start getting the new skills and learning you need and that will drive you forward for years to come.

If you are interested on learning more on what FocalPoint Coaching and Training can do for you and your company, please contact us at www.focalpointcoaching.com or myself at www.coachluisvgarcia.com

To Your Success!

Luis Vicente Garcia, FocalPoint Coach & Trainer.

Transition into your Q4

Every Company is entering the final quarter of the 2015 Calendar this week. Are you ready and prepared for it? Have you met your goals and objectives so far and have the energy to continue with the energy and enthusiasm these last three months?

As we enter this Q4 there are four tips I would like to suggest so that you get ready to FINISH STRONG your 2015!

1.       Review your results up to date: every business owner and manager need to understand where you are today. You have had a certain level of revenue and production; have engaged in new transactions, business relationships and made new clients; have had to pay your costs and expenses. Are you in the level or range which is acceptable to your company and industry? Do you know your metrics?

2.       Review your GOALS for Q4: now that you are here, today, you need to review your goals for Q4; do not change them, adjust them. Our goals need to remain the same. Only our strategies, actions or plans need to change and adapt. Maybe a new sales level (lower or higher); maybe a new product or service you have been working on through the year; or maybe a new marketing strategy. Develop them and see how the complement your current goals and then go and work on them;

3.       Share your stories of success. The people in your company have been working hard this year; and probably this will be the strongest quarter for your company as it is to many others throughout the world. You most probably have had very interesting stories these past nine months that are an immense source of ideas, vision, client testimonials and possibilities. Share them with your team; let them know what your clients say, what the management team is thinking; share these stories with your team members. They will get the energy to Finish Strong! 

4.       Celebrate your Success! Las weekend I had the chance to speak to a group of insurance brokers during their annual convention. One of my messages was: celebrate your successes. Usually we wait until the end of the year; or we wait until the completion of a certain level of sales or production. What if we start celebrating every significant accomplishment? What can we do to create a sense of pride in every action within our companies? This is why I suggest that you start celebrating your successes and accomplishments on a regular basis as they will make a difference in your companies.

To finish STRONG Start NOW! 

At the end it is your company, your team, your products and services, your people, your clients. Work with them, review your goals, understand the level of satisfaction and get ready to finish the final quarter of 2015 very strong!

It’s time to go Back to Work!

Well, summer is over and with autumn just approaching, we might remember the feeling of going back to the classroom. We can all recall the feelings of anticipation that come with the start of the new school year. Going back to school each fall, we experienced a change in mindset and reset our focus after the long summer days.

How can you keep this attitude working for you in your professional career?

Now is the Time to Learn Something New

The most successful individuals and entrepreneurs are constantly reading, attending seminars, engaging with mentors, and exposing themselves to new ideas and opportunities. Bolstering your knowledge in your field and improving your leadership skills can enhance your career and give you an edge. The extra contacts that continuing education provides are also beneficial in today’s competitive market.

What about Goals?

Are you 66% of the way to accomplishing the goals you set for 2015? The next 4 months are the prime time to make progress toward your year-end goals.

What is next?

Plan the last four months of the year; work on your goals; review your Team and their activities. See and visualize where you want to end the 2015 year so that you start to get ready for 2016. Have you thought of your strategic plan and the actions and steps you will have to follow in order to reach your goal?

As a FocalPoint Business Coach (powered by Brian Tracy) I do this for many clients in several countries, working hand in hand with them, guiding their teams, pushing their limits, stablishing goals and developing a coaching program that will take them to new levels of performance.

Take action!

Email us at lgarcia@focalpointcoaching.comto get your free 20-minute consultation call and see how we can help you grow and reach your goals faster.

Luis Vicente Garcia

FocalPoint Business Performance Coach

Brian Tracy International Certified Trainer

www.coachluisgarcia.com

www.luisvicentegarcia.com    

Entrepreneurs are today’s Adventurers!

Entrepreneurship has to be seen as a journey, as an adventure. It starts when we have that special idea to do something on our own, to create a business, or to innovate. It follows with our action plan, defining what we want to do and start working on it. We create a strategy, we get team members (friends and relatives at the beginning) and we start developing our idea. This is why for me ‘Entrepreneurship’ is a journey and this is why I see entrepreneurs as today's adventurers.

Entrepreneurship has been defined in many ways. It is the result of a person with very interesting qualities: takes action, combines resources, helps people, takes risks, organizes, discovers, and creates. An entrepreneur, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money.” It then defines an entrepreneur as “one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.” What the entrepreneur really does with the idea or the dream he or she has, is to build a business that will make them grow and be successful, in whichever way you define success.

Entrepreneurship is not easy; however there is very interesting research that points that many more Americans and people around the world are willing to start and run their own business. In a survey made last year by the University of Phoenix, it was pointed out that 63% of the people in the US between the ages of 20 and 30 want to have their own business.

A very important report, issued in May 2013 by Babson and Baruch Colleges, starts by saying that:

 “The year 2012 was marked by entrepreneurial optimism in the United States”[1]. 

This single fact ‘optimism’ points out the importance of entrepreneurship in all growing economies worldwide. With data since 1999, the Report indicated that the percentage of adults involved in startups in 2012 hit 13% – a record high since Babson began tracking entrepreneurship rates in 1999 (you can see a full article on the subject that was reported by Elaine Pofeldt on Forbes magazine here)

We see entrepreneurs in many countries. Latin America on one end is very active in this area, with Chile and Peru leading the way; and the United States ranked at the top of the innovation-driven economies during 2012 followed by Singapore. Can this trend continue? I would have to say yes, as it is the entrepreneur who energizes and grows, generating a more dynamic economy.  

Governments in many parts of the world are continuously looking to entrepreneurs (both new and well established) in order to increase employment and generate new ideas so that their economies grow and the competitiveness of states and countries increases. Our job then, whether in the public or private sector, is to foster and create an atmosphere of growth, development and innovation in which entrepreneurs can grow and prosper. We see it in the small business that opened last week five blocks from our office, or the small shop that opened up around the corner or the new restaurant a couple kids started in the nearby mall. Many articles and reports show that record number of new businesses opened up in 2013 in the UK, India and Hong Kong, for example. And furthermore, the US Small Business Administration reported that “the small business sector is growing rapidly. While corporate America has been ‘downsizing’, the rate of small business ‘start-ups’ has grown, and the rate for small business failures has declined.[2]

There are too many opportunities to succeed in business today that were not available years ago. For starters, you can create your company online; you can outsource many tasks (accounting, legal, tax) so that you can focus on developing your business; you can hire better qualified talent. But you need to get out of your comfort zone or if not your ideas and your business will not grow. You need to get started and learning along the way so that you will not fail. Long working hours will be the norm; cash flow and capital will be required; and you will need to become an expert deciphering what your client will need in this fast-paced environment. And this means that you need to get the necessary experience and guidance in order to succeed.

And entrepreneurs need to learn continuously. With the right attitude and the right mindset they can become better on their daily jobs, managing their teams and companies, and improving their results. There are many tools that will help you to manage your personal and your business performance. But there is a simple fact, that in order to use all of these tools you have to start taking action; you need to take that first step. There is a beautiful quote by Karen Lamb which says “a year from now you may wish you had started today.”  And now the question is, what are you waiting for? What is that idea that does not let you sleep at night? When are you going to start?

Entrepreneurial intentions are rising, which is an excellent sign; and opportunities are present everywhere.  New stores and companies are opened every day; some continue, some change, some close. But the entrepreneur never quits, he follows his dream until it becomes a reality and then dreams some more. This is why entrepreneurship is a journey. You start with your business idea; you present it to family and friends and then to other people who might be interested in your future products or services. You then embark on the learning journey to become an entrepreneur, and better yet, with the goal of becoming a very successful one. And you have been transformed into a never ending adventurer!

Luis Vicente Garcia is a business Consultant, FocalPoint Business Coach, a Best-selling Author and an International Speaker. He helps businesses and business owners reach higher levels of performance. You can follow Luis at @lvgarciag, visit his web site www.luisvicentegarcia.com or contact him at   coachluis@luisvicentegarcia.com 

---

[1] 2012 United States Report, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. ©2012 by Donna J. Kelley, Abdul Ali, Candida Brush, Andrew C. Corbett, Mahdi Majbouri, Edward G. Rogoff, Babson College and Baruch College

[2] http://www.sba.gov/content/small-business-trends

When opportunities knock on your door: becoming a VoiceAmerica Radio Host!

Sometimes you can really expect the unexpected. In my case, I have had such an amazing journey over the past six years I cannot believe it somehow.

It all started back in February 2009 when I went to my (back-then) boss and told him I was going to resign after being at the company for almost 7 years. If you could have been there with me, you would have seen his shocked face, as I was the CFO and GM of his group of companies. His first question was why? Immediately came his second question, what will you do? My answer was a simple one: I want to do something different.

How many times have you had that thought or feeling that you want to do something different? As I was not prepared to answer exactly what I would do, so for him that conversation “never existed”; well, at least on his mind as for me it was just a matter of time. In 2010 I went to become the CFO of a large multinational corporation - something we finance people of course like very much – only to have that thought come over many times until late in 2012, when I decided it was time to do the something different I wanted to do, which was helping others but was not sure how.

My fields had been corporate finance, franchising and entrepreneurship and I knew I would do some managerial and entrepreneurial related activities; and my decision was in 2013 to become a business performance coach with FocalPoint Coaching. And my life changed. I have met incredible people like Brian Tracy, Jack Canfield, Dan Sullivan, and Michael E. Gerber among many other; I am a business coach and do have my very own business coach (thank you Margaret!) as we all need to continuously improve. I write in Spanish since the late 90’s (started my blog www.motivandoelfuturo.com in 2010) and have since published two books on Franchising. And then I was invited to write a chapter for a book in English (and yes it is really very different). And after that first chapter, came another and another and I have already co-authored six books with amazing people from all over the world; and of course, soon after I started an English blog on Leadership and Entrepreneurship (which you can read at www.entrepreneurperformance.com ).

And then a few other things followed. I was invited to speak to amazing audiences in Latin America and in the US and then to appear at the America’s Premier Experts TV Show which led to other incredible opportunities, such as being invited as a guest on a few radio shows.

I never had thought that I would write books or be on radio or TV; even less was I prepared to what happened last February. I was contacted by VocieAmerica Network to have my own radio show; really? Remember that I wanted to do something different? Well, all is different but it is the same. It is my way of still helping others but now doing what I like, working on management and entrepreneurship; with business owners and empowering teams. My clients range in age, industries and geography; but they all have something in common: are looking for new ways to do things in a better way!

So what do you do when you have a dream or a thought? You act on it, make decisions, start implementing a few ideas and put your mind into making it work. All takes time; all costs more than what you expect; everything requires effort, hard work and dedication. And still

you need to find the energy to continue forward, regardless of the circumstances. You need to be constantly inspired and motivated and do that for others, as leaders inspire people and visionaries motivate everyone. It is never easy, but all is worth it.

When opportunity knocks on your door, open it; if it doesn’t knock, go out and find it.

Never say I have never done it (you will someday);

never say I do not know how to do it (go out and learn);

never say it is too difficult (even less if you have not tried).

Never say no to an opportunity, and

never back down from a chance to do some incredible act and start a new adventure.

And after four months of design, preparation, weekly conferences, and decisions and now in training, this is what I will also do starting next week. On June 2^nd I will be the host of an incredible new radio show at VoiceAmerica’s Business Channel. Just the name of it might be intriguing to some: “Performing at Your Best: Mindset Evolution with Luis Vicente Garcia”.

This has been a family event: my wife and kids commenting on every single item related to the show; form the image, to the show’s name to the pictures and images. From my wife helping me to choose the right music, to my eldest son learning Photoshop and making all the show banners, to my youngest son making design suggestions (he even asked me why I included the word ‘Evolution’ on the show’s name; interesting question). And working with an executive producer for the network every week was also a first and as always, a learning experience (and of course, thank you Winston).

So I invite you to join me every Tuesday starting June 2^nd at 3 pm Pacific time or 6 pm Easter time, on the new show “Performing at Your Best: Mindset Evolution with Luis Vicente Garcia” . It will be an English radio show for a native Spanish speaker; a show on Internet which might be new to many people; a show on Performance and Mindset. And at the end, it will be the new beginning of that idea to do something different. Just how different you will never know, until you try, until you start, change, adapt, and see things with a different perspective. I invite you to follow the link to the show’s page at http://www.voiceamerica.com/show/2462/performing-at-your-best-mindset-evolution-with-luis-vicente-garcia

This is what the show will be about, but it will also be about you and about me, and about business and empowerment; and about being positive, motivated and on changing our mindset. And my goal with the show is that you will also find that ‘something different’ that you want to do and take the necessary steps to start doing it. Simply said, as Brian Tracy wrote on the book The Ultimate Success Guide, a book we both co-authored, when he dedicated a copy to me:

“LUIS, YES YOU CAN!”

Here is to all of you who are doing that ‘something different’, as you are already the “Change you want to see in the World’ (Gandhi)

To Your “Motivated” Success!

Luis Vicente 

Best Quotes for Entrepreneurs

I must admit I love quotes. They give you insights into other people’s minds and thoughts. So looking for quotes to motivate, inspire and teach us is something we all need to do. They can also suggest different perspectives at particular times.

Recently I read Tanya Prive’s Forbes article (@TanyaPrive1) on the 32 best quotes for #entrepreneurs which, with her permission, I present to you today.

Use them, allow them to guide you, and learn from them.

To your success,

Luis Vicente

Top 32 Quotes Every Entrepreneur Should Live By

(http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2013/05/02/top-32-quotes-every-entrepreneur-should-live-by/)

Tanya Prive

CONTRIBUTOR

The nature of being an entrepreneur means that you fully embrace ambiguity and are comfortable with being challenged regularly. Choosing this career path is completely irrational because the odds of succeeding are dismal, but most succeed because of their unwavering belief, laser focus on delivering and persistence.

Starting a company is a riveting roller coaster of emotions with tremendous highs and at times, difficult lows, but one thing that always helps me through the ups and downs is to connect with some of the greatest minds. Below are just a few of my favorite quotes:

1. “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” - Peter Drucker

2. “Winners never quit and quitters never win.” - Vince Lombardi

3. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” - Steve Jobs

4. “My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long University education that I never had — everyday I’m learning something new.” - Richard Branson

5. “Every time you state what you want or believe, you’re the first to hear it. It’s a message to both you and others about what you think is possible. Don’t put a ceiling on yourself.” - Oprah Winfrey

6. It is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” - Bill Gates

7. “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” - Warren Buffett

8. “One of the huge mistakes people make is that they try to force an interest on themselves. You don’t choose your passions; your passions choose you.” - Jeff Bezos

9. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” - Thomas Edison

10. “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” - Albert Einstein

11. “As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big.” - Donald Trump

12. “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” - Winston Churchill

13. “ Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration.” - Thomas Edison

14. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

15. “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” - Vince Lombardi

16. “If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.” - Napoleon Hill

17. “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” - Bill Cosby

18. “Success is not what you have, but who you are.” - Bo Bennet

19. “Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t so you can spend the rest of your life like most people cant.” - Warren G. Tracy’s student

20. “To win without risk is to triumph without glory.” - Corneille

21. “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” - Mark Twain

22. “There is only one success- to be able to spend your life in your own way.” - Christopher Morley

23. “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.” - Napoleon Hill

24. “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” - Albert Schweitzer

25. “What is not started will never get finished” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

26. “When you cease to dream you cease to live.” - Malcolm Forbes

27. “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” - Jim Rohn

28. “The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake- you can’t learn anything from being perfect.”- Adam Osborne

29. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”- John C. Maxwell

30. “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”- Ralph Nader

31. “Choose a job that you like, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”- Confucius

32. “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”- Bill Gates

The Bryce Harper Effect, When Greatness Comes Out of Left Field

When many of us think about the summer, images of going to the beach or grilling out fill our minds. For some of you summer really only means one thing, and that’s baseball. If you’ve been paying any attention, you’ll probably know who Bryce Harper is.

But, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the name, Bryce Harper is an outfielder for the Washington Nationals. In the 2014 season he played left field, hence the pun.

Aside from being an outstanding player, Harper has an interesting take on life and business. It can be described by two words:

Keep Pushing.

What makes Bryce Harper so great is not just the fact that he is insanely talented, (at 16 he decorated Sports Illustrated’s cover with the title “Baseball’s Chosen One” and was drafted into the MLB by the Washington Nationals at 19), but the fact that he pushes himself to the limit in everything he does, and then some. He’s not one to rest on his laurels either. Even with his insane talent he is always looking for things that he can improve.

This got me thinking, what does a Bryce Harper attitude look like for business? How do we keep pushing?

We have to stay hungry, and remember what it was we set out to do. Accept nothing but the best from yourself, and your business will flourish. But get comfortable and lazy and you’ll get left behind.

What any organizational leader or manager MUST know how to do is build a sense of urgency in their organization.

Even if you’re doing everything in your power to make more sales and create a positive customer experience, it is your team who is on the front lines, keeping the engines running.  Creating a sense of urgency and embedding it into your company culture is the ONLY way you can ensure that your team is performing at their highest levels each and every day. A sense of urgency is the only way to make sure your company stays above the curve.

No matter what industry, or what stage of the game you’re in, I can help you define and identify the changes you need to build a culture of urgency in your business and create real results today.  I can coach you to implement the strategies you need to create unparalleled success and ensure your business makes a Grand Slam in the coming Quarter.

If you’re ready to transform yourself and your business in order to gain the type of award-winning success Bryce Harper created to garner national attention, contact me today. You can reach me at coachluis@luisvicentegarcia.com.

And believe you can always do it if you set your mind to it!

To Your Success,


Luis Vicente Garcia