I Broke the Rules

It was my fault.

I knew the rules but didn't meet them.

It still pissed me off!!!!!

I was flying to my band camp (Summer Song) and i was excited! I had a 7:30 flight and was flying Jetstar. For those who don't know Jetstar is one of Australia's low cost airlines - effectively a bus with wings. They have a policy that check in closes 30 minutes before the flight takes off and if you miss check in, you miss your flight.

I was clever I checked in from home using webcheck in. All I had to do is check my bag and I was good to go. So on Thursday morning I got up early, woke Wifey (who was my chauffeur for the day) and headed off to the airport.

Unfortunately traffic was a little tight but no worries because my baggage was in a carry on bag so if I was late i would just carry it on. I got there at 7am. Joined the queue to check bags at 7.02am and spoke to the check in person at 7.04am. He informed me that baggage was closed. "No worries", I said. "I'll just carry it on". He said it was a little heavy and I had to see the service desk.

There I was waiting in line to see the service desk dude getting concerned how close it was to the flight. When the service desk dude finished with his customer I mentioned (because I was four people back in the queue) to him that I was concerned I would miss my flight. Then he said I had been taken off the flight and I would have to reschedule.

That's when I felt like a four year old in a lolly shop with no money. Adrenalin surged, I was going to start shouting and blame Jetstar. They would be sorry and I would never fly them again. I would tweet everyone and.......... it was all my fault.

I knew the rules and I didn't stick by them. I was late to check in. Jetstar are known for their strict adherence to this policy. I had joked with a friend the week before about how she missed her flight for last year's camp.

I didn't add a buffer. When planning anything I always like to add a buffer for when things are not perfect. Traffic was heavier than I thought and 5 minutes delay cost me.

I was too heavy. My baggage was 3 kg too heavy for carry on. I knew there were limits and I know Jetstar is strict. Next time I will pack differently.

I didn't blow up and blame them for all of my woes. I still have issues with their policies but I knew their policies and didn't follow them.

The best thing I did was take responsibility for my actions. My fault and no oneelses.

So here I am at the airport, one day later, $70 poorer and rescheduling my trip.

Where do you need to take responsibility?

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy

www.warwickmerry.com
www.getmoreblog.com
www.getmoreshowsuccess.com

Picture by Ben Templesmith

I am Feeling

For those of you who wondered and who asked, my Stand Up Comedy premiere performance went well. I am defining well as, "I got lots of applause, they cheered at the end and I enjoyed the experience."

But an interesting thing happened - I had feelings!

As a speaker I address audiences from 5 to 5,000 and feel incredibly comfortable in doing so. In fact, the bigger the audience the better. It was really strange to be in a dingy dark room at the back of an iconic Melbourne hotel with about 120-150 people in the audience and be really nervous. After 30 seconds on stage, I was able to relax a bit and then proceeded. So even though I haven't been nervous like that for quite awhile, it passed quickly.

What didn't pass quickly were my other feelings!

I am a student of personal development and the new age learning. Manifesting, Law of Attraction, Power of Positive Thinking and lots of other fun hippy trippy stuff. After a humble assessment of my comedy skill I thought that there was a fair chance I may progress to the second round. When I was doing my preparation I was focused on performing well enough to get to the second round. I was fortunate to be part of a pre-heat comedy workshop and after seeing others my confidence of getting to the second round was boosted.

On the day that 31 people gave their performances of 5 minutes each, 6 of them were to progress to the next round. After the level of laughs I got and the positive feedback from honest friends, I was confident that the second round would manifest in to reality for me. As I watched more and more of the Raw Comedy entrants I could honestly say that there were about two or three that were by far better than me and others that were close. The leader of the comedy workshop had a chat with me at half time and said in his opinion I had a strong chance of getting through.

When the six entrants going through to the next round were announced, my name wasn't one of them. Some of the people who did get through didn't seem to be as funny as me or have as good a crowd response as I did. But comedy is a funny thing - not funny Ha Ha but funny strange. What appealed to the judges was different to what I did.

My friends and my own mind kicked in:
"You gave it your best shot"
"Others would not have done this"
"The judges got it wrong - we thought you were great"
"There is always next year"
"It wasn't meant to be"

I tried to be philosophical. I looked for the positive. I sent positive vibes to the winners.

I was as pissed off as hell!

Well, maybe not that much but I was very disappointed. This was where the feelings were kicking in. I know about acceptance, moving forward, letting go of disappointment, blessing others who achieve what you want - but I still had feelings. Sometimes in the new age writings it seems like they think I am Buddha. I am not that nice!

So I felt pissed off for a couple of hours. It was great. I got in there and really wallowed in it. I felt the feelings and they passed. They no longer hold me back. I can be authentic and not pretend I am something I am not. I wasn't unpleasant, in fact I genuinely congratulated the others but I allowed myself to feel the feelings. Some well intentioned people around me tried to shut the feelings down but I knew what was right for me.

What about you? What is right for you? How do you process your feelings? Leave a comment and let me know.

They say that the quickest way around is through. If you want to be free of the damage your feelings can cause to you and those you love (or even just your work colleagues), don't squash the feelings down. Feel them. Process them. Have a tantrum if you need to (just make sure it is in an appropriate place). Once the feeling has gone you are free to do what you know you must.

Me.... I am now looking around for open mic nights at the many Melbourne comedy clubs. I won't let one little set back get in my road - no matter how disappointing!

Enjoy!

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy

http://www.warwickmerry.com/
http://www.getmoreblog.com/
http://www.getmoreshowsuccess.com/

Go to the Edge!

Greetings!

If you follow me on Twitter or have seen my FaceBook page recently you will know that I am doing my first stand up comedy show on Saturday.

I don't mind confessing that I am a little scared! I like to think I am a little funny and that I keep people amused at parties but being on stage in the spot light is a little different.

You may also know that I am a professional speaker so being in front of people is not a new experience for me. But there is a huge difference between cracking a few jokes during a one hour session and making people laugh constantly for 5 minutes.

5 minutes!! It is not long but it can seem like a life time. I had a routine written and I was pretty confident (to be honest I was a bit to confident!) and then I performed it in front of ten friends at a workshop we had yesterday. Ouch!! Wasn't that good. So I have spent a lot of yesterday and today rewriting my 5 minutes of comedy.

I have thought about doing this for ages. There is no reason for me to do this other than to go to the edge and peer over. I don't want to fail. I want to be funny! In fact, to be completely honest, I want to get to the next round. For years I have avoided this but I can't do it any more.

What about you?

What have you always wanted to do but have been avoiding? Where is your edge?
Do you have times where you live on the edge or can you only see the edge from where you are?
"It's somewhere over there in the distance."

Spending time on the edge is scary, but fulfilling. My confidence and self belief are growing. My willingness to do the impossible or at least the unthinkable is growing. In fact the more time I spend on the edge, the more it moves further from me.

Come to the edge with me. Let's see what we can do!

Warwick Merry

The Get More Guy

http://www.warwickmerry.com/

http://www.getmoreblog.com/

http://www.getmoreshowsuccess.com/

Photo: Flickr/Matt N Johnson

Christmas is for giving!

This is our tree. Loaded with presents for our loved ones. In fact, our tree is a little depleted of presents because we had a party on the weekend and people took theirs for the big day.

As I was thinking about Christmas (one of my favourite times of the year), I considered what I have been told as a kid, that Christmas is for giving. It was only when I wrote that sentence down that I noticed the truth of it.

"Christmas is for giving" or possibly "Christmas is forgiving".

What a cool thing!! Christmas is forgiving. What a gift to give yourself and others this year!! Forgiveness!

Who are some of the people and institutions you could give the gift of forgiveness?
Yourself - Is there anything you blame yourself for that you could now let go of?
Your family - Do you still hold any grudges for things that your family members said, did, didn't say or didn't do?
Your friends - Do you have any friends you need to forgive?
Institutions - Are there any companies (banks, post offices, utility supplier, ISP's, online services etc) who have crapped you off this year that you need to forgive?

You know the best thing about forgiveness? You are the one that benefits the most. By forgiving others you get freedom from baggage that you have been carrying around all this time. You get to lighten you load and focus on being the real you, not someone driven crazy by the weird and wonderful people in your life.

Give it a try!! You may be surprised at the results and you don't even have to use gift wrapping!!

Enjoy!


Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy
www.warwickmerry.com
www.getmoreblog.com
www.getmoreshowsuccess.com

Social Networking

I Twitter.

In the course of my Twittering I have come across Paul Warren from Warcom. He has had some success with social networking in its positive impact on his business – www.warcom.com. So I thought it may be interesting to hear about it.

So without further adieu – here we go!

Part 1: Social Networking with Customers
Since the infancy stages of my business journey, I have always been a strong believer in the adage that ‘there is no better form of marketing than social networking’. Over the past few years, however, the majority of my 'social networking time' has been concentrated towards contributing to online forums. Until recently, the likes of Facebook, and Myspace, were rather limited in their social networking scope, especially in relation to Warcom’s core business.

So where do I spent my time?

Whilst having been a long-standing member of the hugely popular forums Whirlpool and Overclockers Australia (OCAU), it is quite clear by the number of posts I have racked up, that I spend considerably more time on Whirlpool (16,000+ posts) than OCAU. Both forums have their positive and negative aspects.

Whirlpool is a bit too 'regimented' in my opinion, where its members must adapt to the Whirlpool style in order to fit in. While ensuring that I cross all my T's, and dot all my I's, I give potential customers the time they deserve, and the benefit of my industry experience. It is only when armed with intelligent answers, can my potential customers make informed decisions. Mutual respect goes a long way, but do not forget to watch out for the trolls!

On the flip side, when we look at OCAU, their member base is much more free and easy going, pretty much being themselves, and you can let your hair down and just 'hang out with the boys' so to speak. Whilst I do not condone over use of expletives and vulgarity, they are allowed on OCAU, and even the occasional ‘skin pic’ seems to float past the admins from time to time!
And then there's Bigandy.... Do not get me started on this fella!

I do, however, believe that neither of these forums are overly useful (for me) in terms of 'business networking', only 'customer networking'. I will explain what I mean by this towards the end of the article.

So what is my point? What is my plan? Why so much time on forums?

Simple – I am building a ‘Presence’!

From time to time, I jump into the help ticketing system and help my staff out with questions that our customers email to us. Without a doubt, almost every single time, I am told by a customer, "Hey, you're that warcom guy! I love your posts, they were helpful to me!"

So, with comments as straight forward as that being thrown at me, I can see that my ‘presence’ in those forums, has contributed the following:

• I am building my public online image - customers get to know me.
• I am building my company’s public image - customers get to know who we are, understand what we stand for, and how we view them.
• My contributions in online forums are leading to sales - $$$ is important to stay in business!
• I am utilizing the power of NLP with would be customers! Whilst my presence might not lead to a sale immediately, customers will remember me!
  

Part 2: Social Networking With Business People
As I previously opined, I believe Facebook and MySpace are next to useless for Warcom pertaining to Social Networking.

Twitter on the other hand - I now believe Twitter is amazing! (it has taken a while!) I have managed to strike up some very mutually beneficial 'business networking buddies'' using Twitter. Notably, the likes of Warwick ‘Mr Get Energised’, Glenn ‘Copyman’, and our resident ‘Energiser Bunny’ Sam from thinktankmedia. If not for Twitter, our paths would have neither crossed, nor afforded us the opportunity to bounce ideas off each other.

So, taking all of the above mentioned into consideration, Social Networking is fantastic for doing the 'meet and greet' with customers, and keeping in their good graces, and to meet new faces.
As an example, the speed at which the Internode 'Social Scene' has developed is staggering, and if companies fail to jump on board now, they may as well take their bat and ball, and go home right now.

Social Networking is a very powerful tool when done right, however, just like a precision instrument, it is the skill of the engineer behind it that dictates whether it works in perfect harmony with others, or falls dead flat.

Paul Warren.

What are you listening to?

What are you listening to right now?

Not what is on the radio, not what is on TV, not what others are saying but what is it that is in your head? What is the endless loop of self talk saying?

So many people hear "You probably won't get that sale", "you won't look very good in that out fit", "Who are you trying to kid with that idea", "Better be scared of where the economy is heading" and a vast array of other negative things.

STOP IT!!!

Your thoughts become your words.
Your words become your actions.
Your actions become your habits.
Your habits become your beliefs and
Your beliefs set your destiny.

Choose the positive thoughts. Use words that show those thoughts. Take action to reflect your words and you will ensure your habits, beliefs and destiny are on the course to success.

So.........

what are you listening to now?

Enjoy!

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy
http://www.warwickmerry.com/
http://www.getmoreblog.com/
http://www.getmoreshowsuccess.com/

The Survival Trap

Just a quick blog for you.

A good friend of mine, and brilliant sales and marketing guru has just released a free ebook on "The Survival Trap". It is not a "get this free and then you can buy other stuff" kind of offer, it is simply him giving to other small business owners who may be starting to panic in tight economic times.

To get the ebook, visit his website http://www.survivaltrap.com/

Check out what he has to say, I am sure you will find it worthwhile.

Enjoy!

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy
http://www.warwickmerry.com/
http://www.getmoreblog.com/
http://www.getmoreshowsuccess.com/