You’re no longer sharing your feelings, you’re trying to change someone

Advice is best received when asked for. Any moment before that and it’s useless. It solely benefits the advisor, not the recipient.

And so, no matter how skilled we are at giving advice, and no matter how intent we are at helping and fixing and contributing to others, it’s critical that we approach people in way that recognizes and respects their boundaries. 

A helpful strategy in raising someone’s receptivity to feedback is with the following framing device. 



I thought of a few ideas for you, but I wanted to make sure they were welcome first. What kind of feedback would be most meaningful? 

It’s value forward, thoughtful, boundary honoring and completely personalized. It’s a permission slip for timing feedback appropriately. It’s a way of putting the feedback ball in the other person’s court, giving them a sense of efficacy over the situation. And even if they reject the offer for advice, which is perfectly acceptable, there’s no residue of defensiveness or resentment to stain the relationship. Because you came from a place of seeking to understand someone, not from a place of trying to fix them. 

Offering unsolicited, immediate and constant advice, on the other hand, makes people think you question their judgment. And if you keep repeating it, you’re no longer sharing your feelings, you’re trying to change someone. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What’s your unique approach to getting on the feedback runway?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For a copy of the list called, “20 Ways to Make Customers Feel Comfortable,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com


Rent Scott’s Brain is part mentoring, part coaching, part consulting, but all strategy. 


Whether in person, via phone, or another digital channel, Scott works with you both strategically and tactically to achieve your goals. 


His brain will be a source of profound holistic improvement for your business. 


You’ll learn powerful strategies for: 


Ideation. Messaging. Storytelling. Platform creation. Brand development. Content strategy. Inbound marketing. Thought leadership. 


You’ve seen what he could do with a nametag, imagine what he could do for you.



Learn more @ www.rentscottsbrain.com.

Commitment without evidence is pantomime

I recently heard an inspiring story
about a blocked screenwriter who couldn’t finish his first
independent film. 

And so, to motivate himself, he had a pair of tennis shoes
custom designed with the title of his movie embroidered one hundred times on
each foot. Brian claimed it was a constant reminder to take steps toward his
dream, no matter how big they were.

He wore those shoes all day, every day
until his movie finally shipped. And in the end, his work received rave reviews
from critics, fans and colleagues alike. 

It’s a sneaky reminder that if your
commitment isn’t symbolized, memorialized and personified in a tangible way,
you’re just winking in the dark. Find a commitment device. Make it simple,
creative, intentional, memorable, and most importantly, physically attached to
your body at all time. 

Not only will it keep your accountable to your dream,
but it will afford you the opportunity to share your dream with the people
around you. Keep adding energy to the
system, keep moving the story forward. And it’s only a matter of time before
that dream becomes a reality.
 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What’s your commitment device?


LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For a copy of the list called, “20 Ways to Make Customers Feel Comfortable,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Rent Scott’s Brain is part mentoring, part coaching, part consulting, but all strategy. 


Whether in person, via phone, or another digital channel, Scott works with you both strategically and tactically to achieve your goals. 


His brain will be a source of profound holistic improvement for your business. 


You’ll learn powerful strategies for: 


Ideation. Messaging. Storytelling. Platform creation. Brand development. Content strategy. Inbound marketing. Thought leadership. 


You’ve seen what he could do with a nametag, imagine what he could do for you.



Learn more @ www.rentscottsbrain.com.

What people remember about you is what you are

I have a client who, like so many of us, struggles with focus. His messaging is all over the place. He tries to say too many things at once. And he has a hard time sticking to one theme. 

During a recent brain rental session, I asked him to create two lists. The first list was three themes he thought were most meaningful in his work. The second list contained three themes customers remembered from his work. Not surprisingly, the two lists differed. 

And that’s when I reminded him, pay careful attention to what people tell you they remember about you. Because that’s exactly what you are. It may not be what you want it to be, and it may not be consistent with the image you hold of yourself, but it’s still the current balance of your reputational asset. 

Perception isn’t just reality, it’s everything. And so, if you’re not happy with the themes people remember about your work, perhaps it’s time to rework the architecture of your brand. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What three compliments do people make about your work that, to you, are just effortless extensions of your inherent expertise?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For a copy of the list called, “65 Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I First Started My Company,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Rent Scott’s Brain is part mentoring, part coaching, part consulting, but all strategy. 


Whether in person, via phone, or another digital channel, Scott works with you both strategically and tactically to achieve your goals. 


His brain will be a source of profound holistic improvement for your business. 


You’ll learn powerful strategies for: 


Ideation. Messaging. Storytelling. Platform creation. Brand development. Content strategy. Inbound marketing. Thought leadership. 


You’ve seen what he could do with a nametag, imagine what he could do for you.



Learn more @ www.rentscottsbrain.com.

Find ways to make it your fault

Nobody comes home from working thinking they’re the idiot. 

The human instinct is to externalize blame. To find all the ways everybody else was wrong, thereby making us innocent through process of elimination. To give ourselves license to say how stupid everybody else is without feeling guilty. 

The only problem is, what we assume is another person’s failure is often projected carelessness. For example, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve sent late night anxiety ridden emails and text messages to web developers and programmers, freaking out because the change order I put in didn’t take effect, only to later find out that they did do their job, correctly and quickly, I just forgot to clear my cache. 

Woops. Who knew all I had to do was press one stupid button on my browser bar, and the whole incident could have been avoided? 

What a perfect lesson for everyday life. After all, the word cache is a tool that hides, conceals, stores or constrains. And so, before blaming people for doing something dumb, we ought to ask ourselves what context we failed to set. What cache we forgot to clear. Because odds are, that’s precisely what’s concealing the answer to our problems. 

Find ways to make it your fault. Even if it wasn’t. It’s a healthy exercise in humility, efficiency and awareness. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What are you pretending not to know about your role in the problem?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For a copy of the list called, “65 Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I First Started My Company,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Rent Scott’s Brain is part mentoring, part coaching, part consulting, but all strategy. 


Whether in person, via phone, or another digital channel, Scott works with you both strategically and tactically to achieve your goals. 


His brain will be a source of profound holistic improvement for your business. 


You’ll learn powerful strategies for: 


Ideation. Messaging. Storytelling. Platform creation. Brand development. Content strategy. Inbound marketing. Thought leadership. 


You’ve seen what he could do with a nametag, imagine what he could do for you.



Learn more @ www.rentscottsbrain.com.

Dropping all available bombs

For any performer, there’s a tendency to pile on the firepower. 

To max out. To use all your weapons at once in a symphony of destruction. 

It’s a natural response to a high stakes situation. You so badly want to be noticed and heard and liked and remembered, that you try to do too much. War gamers and military operations call this type of strategy an alpha strike, which is a massive, all out attack organized into one mission against a given target. 

The problem is, while it’s effective for achieving power and surprise and deadliness, it’s still a risky move. Firing all your weapons at once can drain your ammo, leaving you overextended and vulnerable. Like the rookie quarterback who responds to competitive adversity by trying to do too much too fast, rather than playing within himself. It’s a form of greed, and it almost always backfires. 

I have a musician friend who was recently hired to perform in front of a large international audience. It was his first gig outside of his home country, and five minutes before showtime, he was shaking like a shitting dog. Of course, the performance went well. The audience cheered and laughed and oohed and ahhed. 

The only problem was, he was so focused on blowing the audience away, that he lost sight of the clock. His show went fifteen minutes over time. And everyone in the room knew it. 

Woops. So much for getting rehired next year. Lesson learned, don’t fire all your weapons at once. Spread them out over several impulses. Trust yourself. Enjoy an adventure in restraint. Feel comfortable in that place of patience, and you’ll earn the right to take shots again and again. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Where are you trying to do too much to fast?


LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For a copy of the list called, “65 Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I First Started My Company,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com


Rent Scott’s Brain is part mentoring, part coaching, part consulting, but all strategy. 


Whether in person, via phone, or another digital channel, Scott works with you both strategically and tactically to achieve your goals. 


His brain will be a source of profound holistic improvement for your business. 


You’ll learn powerful strategies for: 


Ideation. Messaging. Storytelling. Platform creation. Brand development. Content strategy. Inbound marketing. Thought leadership. 


You’ve seen what he could do with a nametag, imagine what he could do for you.



Learn more @ www.rentscottsbrain.com.

When people criticize you, don’t get offended, get a notebook

Defensiveness blocks listening, closes minds, causes withdrawal, destroys communication, halts growth, reduces learning. 

And those are just a few of the emotional responses. 

Physically, defensiveness has also been clinically proven to elevate blood pressure and increase heart rate. In fact, according to recent social epidemiology research, defensiveness is emerging as an important psychosocial risk factor for hypertension and future cardiovascular health problems. 

And so, both physically and mentally, there is no upside. There is nothing to gain when being buried under layers of defensiveness. Maisel’s book on toxic criticism put it best. He says that humans are amazingly adept at being defensive creatures who can deny almost anything. But when an event occurs, we ought to acknowledge that we took a blow, recognize that we suddenly found ourselves awash in stress chemicals, negative thoughts and bad feelings, and admit that something happened. 

Which doesn’t mean anything really important did happen. And it doesn’t mean that one person’s opinion should matter too much. But instead of getting defensive, we just own the fact that we’re hurt. That’s a huge emotional milestone. Because once we learn to respond to emotional events with a spirit of honesty and acceptance and curiosity, the opportunities for growth and healing are limitless.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Are you spending so much time and energy protecting yourself from having hurt feelings that you don’t recognize you’re hurting your future?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For a copy of the list called, “65 Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I First Started My Company,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Rent Scott’s Brain is part mentoring, part coaching, part consulting, but all strategy. 


Whether in person, via phone, or another digital channel, Scott works with you both strategically and tactically to achieve your goals. 


His brain will be a source of profound holistic improvement for your business. 


You’ll learn powerful strategies for: 


Ideation. Messaging. Storytelling. Platform creation. Brand development. Content strategy. Inbound marketing. Thought leadership. 


You’ve seen what he could do with a nametag, imagine what he could do for you.



Learn more @ www.rentscottsbrain.com.

Steal Scott’s Ideas, Issue 011: Correctulum, Obsoluchus & Skiffler

Ideas are free, execution is priceless.

That’s been my mantra since day one of starting my business.

It’s also the title of a book I wrote a few years back. You can download it for free here.

But here’s the problem. I’m an idea junkie. Everything I look at in the world breaks down into a collection of ideas. I have about fifty new ones every day, and sadly, I can only execute so many of them. Even if I had all the resources and all the time in the world, I still wouldn’t be able to keep up with the whirlwind of insanity that gusts through my brain.

And that’s where you come in.

I believe ideas were never meant to stay that way. And so, in this new blog series, I’m going to be publishing a sample of them on a weekly basis, in the hopes that they inspire you to (a) execute them, (b) improve them, or (c) invent something completely different.

Remember, once an idea springs into existence, it cannot be unthought.

Even if that idea is ridiculous.

Enjoy! 

Steal Scott’s Ideas, Issue 011

01. Correctulum. Curated college education without the debt.

An online learning platform that creates customized curriculums based the best online classes, videos, documentaries and other internet based resources.

02. Carrying On. Saying goodbye to lives never lived.

A funeral service for parents who miscarry, but want to grieve their loss through ceremony and say goodbye to their lost children with those they love.

03. Pebble. Find out what’s tripping up your team.

A town hall based software program that helps company executives figure out what their employee problems are, and what steps they can take to solve them.

04. Allotment. Snacks for people without willpower.

A portion controlled trail mix dispenser that helps humans avoid over eating too much in one sitting.

05. Obsoluchus. Living in the past, today.

A crows funding platform that helps brings discontinued products back to the marketplace for sixty days at a time.

06. Skiffler. Creating more money than month.

An event planning and invitation service that helps low income people to throw rent parties by partnering with local musicians to play concerts and raise funds for monthly nuts.

07. Dreamie. Managing your active night life.

A daily dream journal that helps people activate, remember, catalog and search for patterns over time in their dream lives.

08. Guiltyness. Stop smiling in secret.

A support group for people who feel guilty about being happy, but can’t share those feelings with all the miserable bastards in their lives.

09. Magic Line. Losing wait through wands.

A placement service that provides magicians for companies whose customers hate standing in long lines.

10. Secondiary. Pry no more.

A decoy diary that kids can keep in conspicuous locations to deceive parents and other nosy family members.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How will you turn these ideas into I-dids?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “49 Ways to become an Idea Powerhouse,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.

Now booking for 2015-2016.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of The Nametag Guy in action here!

Make friends with both sides of yourself

We all hear voices inside our heads. 

That doesn’t make us insane, that makes us in touch. It’s a sign that we’re connected to the deeper currents within ourselves. Sadly, voice hearing or auditory hallucinations have been associated with madness and schizophrenia and psychosis. Because that’s something crazy people do. No need to pay attention to the content or the experience of that voice. 

However, there was famous study conducted in the late eighties about the relationships between voice hearers and their experiences. Romme wondered why this experience was stigmatized, rather than being accepted as a normal aspect of the human experience. And what his research found was, the experience hearing voices could actually be seen as an integral part of people’s daily lives. Mental wellness wasn’t about the presence or absence of voices, he found, but a person’s ability to cope with them. 

And so, he taught patients to set boundaries as to when they would attend to the voices. To talk back to them constructively. And to listen to them selectively. That way, instead of feeling terrified and powerless in the face of their experiences, they could take an active, constructive stance in which the voices were accepted and valuable in their lives. 

Romme’s research was so successful, in fact, he went on to establish several organizations and movements around hearing voices, advocating that the experience wasn’t necessarily an indication of mental illness, rather, an opportunity for people enter into an honest conversation with themselves. 

The point is, whatever our state of mental health us, each of us need to accept that these voices are a part of us. They’re not something we need to kill, we simply need to find a way to put our arm around them and say, thank you for sharing. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How are you framing the inner dialogue you have with yourself?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For a copy of the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Rent Scott’s Brain is part mentoring, part coaching, part consulting, but all strategy. 


Whether in person, via phone, or another digital channel, Scott works with you both strategically and tactically to achieve your goals. 


His brain will be a source of profound holistic improvement for your business. 


You’ll learn powerful strategies for: 


Ideation. Messaging. Storytelling. Platform creation. Brand development. Content strategy. Inbound marketing. Thought leadership. 


You’ve seen what he could do with a nametag, imagine what he could do for you.



Learn more @ www.rentscottsbrain.com.

Go out of your way to make sure customers don’t have to go out of theirs

Customer service doesn’t have to be a complicated notion. Simply ask yourself, does your company make things easier or harder for the people around you? 

Harvard recently released a study that interviewed seventy thousand people who had interacted over the phone with customer service representatives. What’s interesting is, their research found that delighting customers didn’t build loyalty, reducing their effort did. 

It was the companies who lowered the amount of work customers had to do to get their problem solved that scored the highest. Not the ones who exceeded customer expectations. Not the ones invested massive time and effort and cost trying to create unforgettable service moments. And not the companies who engaged in costly giveaways and other superficial marketing tactics. 

But the ones who made the process easy. The ones who removed obstacles. The ones who didn’t have endless corporate policies for saying no. The ones who didn’t transfer calls to three other departments. 

In short, the ones who delivered a low effort experience. 

I recently traveled on an international flight that lasted around seventeen hours. As expected, the experience was cramped and tiring and discombobulating. And yet, the airline went out of their way to make sure I didn’t have to go out of mine. Every interaction with the flight crew was designed to lower my effort. One attendant even joked, feel free to outsource all of your thinking to me. Ahhhh. I felt a wave of relaxation washing over me. 

And so, next time you decide to ramp up your organization’s service experience, don’t worry about wowing every customer every time. Just lower their overall effort. Stop putting people to work. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Does your company make things easier or harder for the people around you?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For a copy of the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Rent Scott’s Brain is part mentoring, part coaching, part consulting, but all strategy. 


Whether in person, via phone, or another digital channel, Scott works with you both strategically and tactically to achieve your goals. 


His brain will be a source of profound holistic improvement for your business. 


You’ll learn powerful strategies for: 


Ideation. Messaging. Storytelling. Platform creation. Brand development. Content strategy. Inbound marketing. Thought leadership. 


You’ve seen what he could do with a nametag, imagine what he could do for you.



Learn more @ www.rentscottsbrain.com.

Your earning capacity is directly related to your belief capacity

An entrepreneur’s income is a result of his standards. 

Not the industry, not the economy, not the man, not the government, not the competition, not the system, not the marketplace, not the city he lives in, but his standards. His ability to sell himself on himself. 

And so, he should never curse an empty calendar. Because it’s not a calendar, it’s a mirror. It’s a reflection of his level of belief in himself. 

I remember when I first made the transition from pro bono to paid work. I was terrified of asking for the sale. To the point of total call reluctance. Until one afternoon, my mentor gave me a sales assignment I never forgot. He told me to stand in front of the mirror for twenty minutes a day, every day, and state my fee confidently until I believed in myself. 

I felt ridiculous. Probably because I wasn’t wearing pants. But once I stopped laughing at myself and started locking into the sales zone, a surge of energy came up to meet me. And I made a decision to take responsibility for the energy I brought to the world. 

That sales assignment changed my life. It cracked open my belief capacity. It equipped me with the confidence I needed to grow my business. And I never sold the same way again. 

Lesson learned, instead of cursing an empty calendar, expand your energetic relationship to the world. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What belief about yourself have you held on to that has out lived it usefulness in your life?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For a copy of the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Rent Scott’s Brain is part mentoring, part coaching, part consulting, but all strategy. 


Whether in person, via phone, or another digital channel, Scott works with you both strategically and tactically to achieve your goals. 


His brain will be a source of profound holistic improvement for your business. 


You’ll learn powerful strategies for: 


Ideation. Messaging. Storytelling. Platform creation. Brand development. Content strategy. Inbound marketing. Thought leadership. 


You’ve seen what he could do with a nametag, imagine what he could do for you.



Learn more @ www.rentscottsbrain.com.

Sign up for daily updates
Connect

Subscribe

Daily updates straight to your inbox.

Copyright ©2020 HELLO, my name is Blog!