Corey Grant's Blog, page 3
July 10, 2012
What Failure Can Lead You To…
Date: July 10, 2012
Why did I put all my money into this? Is this going to work? God, do you hear me? Where are the people? I’m so scared. How will I pay these people? Why did I do this? I can’t pay my rent, they are going to repossess my car…
The year was 1992, July 8th-12th. All these questions were crowding my mind. I was a 22-year old wannabe… but what I wanted to be I didn’t know. All I knew was that I had written this play about adult survivors of child abuse and I wanted the world to see it. I was so sure that it was going to work that I put my own money into the show.
I had worked as a used car salesman and a bill collector and saved my income tax check and my bonuses. I took that money and hired a cast and built a set and rented a very small theater in Atlanta called the 14th Street Playhouse. I had done all the math in my head: I was going to perform 6 shows, 200 people a show, for a total of 1,200 people. The tickets were $12 and I was going to make $14,000 and be rich… LOL. I was going to give my tithe to the church, give my mother some money, pay my rent (that was two months behind), get my car payment caught up and live happily ever after. I knew as sure as I am sitting here that it was all going to be all right. I had prayed that thang out, as they say in the Baptist church… LOL. Looking back on it now I can laugh, but back then it wasn’t so funny. What I quickly realized is that prayer alone will not always get the results you want. As much work as I did, I didn’t do enough to promote the show. More work was needed to go along with my faith.
I was expecting 1,200 people but only 30 showed up. I was devastated. I thought my dreams were dead. Based off this one thing I thought my life was over. Based on this one failure (what I thought was a failure but it clearly wasn’t), I thought that the rest of my life would be ruined. Needless to say, looking back on it, it was all a part of God’s plan and amazing design for my life. And God has a plan for all of our lives.
Today I celebrate my 20th anniversary in show business. It’s been an amazing journey, one that I will detail in my autobiography one day. You would be surprised, inspired, angry and blown away with what I’ve endured to be here, but until then I’d like to share a little inspiration with you. So many times we think that because one thing didn’t go as planned we should give up on it. So many people leave their dreams dying on the floor, gasping for air because it didn’t work out the first time. Be it marriage, business, children, faith, whatever your dream is, you can’t give up because it didn’t go as planned. If I had walked away because it didn’t work you wouldn’t be reading this. I had to keep moving. Yes, there were setbacks. Yes, it was difficult, but I got to see my dreams come to pass because I never stopped moving forward, I never stopped praying and most of all I never stopped believing. DON’T STOP BELIEVING!!!! PLEASE DON’T STOP BELIEVING!!! Say this to yourself out loud right now: “DON’T STOP BELIEVING”, and repeat it to yourself whenever you doubt that you can make it.
What you must understand is that everything, all of it, the good the bad and the ugly, it all works together for your good. If you love the Lord you are called according to His purpose. What’s His purpose for you? If you’re not sure, seek it and all your dreams will come true.
To all my dreamers, to all the people who have invested in themselves, to all the people who have the same questions that I did, hear me when I say this: YOU CAN DO IT!!
CELEBRATING 20 YEARS IN SHOW BUSINESS TODAY!!!!
God Bless you, in Jesus’ name, AMEN!
-Tyler
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June 2, 2012
Coming Soon Leadership on Your Smartphone
Coming soon we will be launching a smartphone app for iPhones, iPads, Android devices and yes Blackberries. The app will connect you to advice, recommendations, tips, Q&A’s, classes and other pertinent information to help you become a more effective leader.
If you have a smartphone and a copy of “Lead to Succeed and You Wont Manage to Fail” take a picture of you and your book or your Kindle and email it to promotions@leadershipcorporation.com with a caption for the pic. We will include your pic in the photo gallery and send you a free copy of the app for your smartphone.
The app will allow fans to post pics of themselves leading, learning or listening to the counsel of other leaders and we want to see you our fans and our best selling book be the first pictures to post in the new app.
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March 31, 2012
Now Hiring Adminstrative Staff Worldwide
The International Leadership Corporation is looking for talented and hardworking individuals to join our team. We have many different roles available for part-time and full-time freelancer opportunities worldwide.
You MUST possess the following qualities:
Hardworking
Motivated
Timely and Efficient
Customer service focused
Computer Savvy
Ability to work unsupervised
We have clients and potential clients in many parts of the world and that require short and long term projects lasting from 1 day to 1 year. Many of those tasks can be done remotely (work from home) but require you to complete the work in an allotted amount of time sometimes in 24 to 48 hours.
Skills we are looking for:
Technical Writers
Data Entry
Personal Assistants
Internet Researchers
Bloggers and Article Writers
Market Researchers
Accountants
Bookkeepers
Software Developers
Business Plan Developers
Business Consultants
Recruiters
Please email your resume to resumes@leadershipcorporation.com for consideration to join our team.
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February 12, 2012
Tagging Amazon Books
Thousands of readers have a copy of our latest book "Lead to Succeed and You Wont Manage to Fail" if you have a copy (paperback or kindle) we are asking you to take a moment and help us by tagging our book on Amazon.com. Tagging helps other readers to find the book based on what keywords you think help best describe it.
Just as we hope that reading our book has helped you in some way we are asking that you help us help others by taking a moment and identifying as many KEYWORDS as you can that accurately depict what message you think the book sends to readers.
Your support (tags and reviews) are appreciated and helps us to continue producing more works that may help you on your journey.
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August 17, 2011
5 Ways to Keep Your Job in a Down Economy
In today's deadspin economy it almost seems expected that at some point your company is going to start cutting cost if they haven't already. Ususally, the biggest and most immediate cut comes in the area of labor. Most small and even large companies try to reduce their labor cost by doing more with less people. HSBC one of the worlds largest mortgage bankers is selling off its US banking operations and heading back to Europe (who is not much better off than the US right now) to do its business where it started. Similar announcements have come from other financial institutions such as Credit Suisse, UBS and Goldman Sachs.
With up to 30,000 jobs at stake in just one company's operations what is a person to do to prevent the enevitable from happening. Aside from the company completing a total shutdown and closing their doors forever here are some pointers for improving your rate of survival.
Build strong relationships – building strong relationships with management and staff who are decision makers is key. After all, these are most likely the people who will decide who will stay and who will go, what positions are critical and what positions are duplicative.
Develop mulitple skills – in the old days we hired specialist to do one thing and one thing well, now we want smart generalist. If a manager on has a budget of a million dollars he can't hire 50 people to do every task he needs done. He may only be able to hire 15 - 20 good employees that can do 3 or 4 different task each.
Be more than willing – be willing to take less money, be willing to do task that you may consider beneath your pay grade, be willing to stay late or come in early. Because managers are forced to do more with less they need to be surrounded with team players who believe in accomplishing the mission at any costs. Even if that costs is personal sacrifice.
Make your boss look good – if your boss is trying to save their own job in this down economy then they are sure to keep their most trustworthy and dependable resources near them. If your boss is continuosly getting pats on the back because of you, there is no reason to keep the guy who is causing them trouble instead of the person getting them accolades.
Be proactive – don't wait until the layoffs are announced to try and save yourself. Be proactive and reinvent yourself before their very eyes so that management has time to evaluate your worth to the organization. There is nothing worse than being unsure about a persons value but pressed to make a decision on a short deadline. You don't want to become an after thought because they were not able to validate the value of losing your talents.
Although most of these suggestions are not demonstrations of your technical prowess they are demostrations of your ability to fit into a very limited system of people and processes that work together to achieve maximum efficiency.
For additional tips on how to improve your leadership skills and elevate yourself higher into the management chain read the book "Lead to Succeed and You Won't Manage to Fail.
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August 5, 2011
Lead to Succeed and You Won’t Manage to Fail
So you finally moved up and got promoted into management? That’s what you’ve always wanted right? That’s what you’ve been working toward your entire career.
Lead to Succeed and You Won’t Manage to Fail gives you an inside look at what it takes to not only become a great manager but a legendary leader. Written with the career focused leader in mind this book is a straight forward look at what successful leaders do to maximize their effectiveness both before and after they become managers.
Whether you manage a small community organization or a large Fortune 500 company this book will help you become a more effective leader by providing you with an in depth insight into what great managers think about and consider when building a successful organization.
Learn first hand what it takes to lead like a legend, because if you can lead well… you won’t manage to fail.
Order your copy today: Lead to Succeed and You Won’t Manage to Fail
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Lead to Succeed and You Won't Manage to Fail
So you finally moved up and got promoted into management? That's what you've always wanted right? That's what you've been working toward your entire career.
Lead to Succeed and You Won't Manage to Fail gives you an inside look at what it takes to not only become a great manager but a legendary leader. Written with the career focused leader in mind this book is a straight forward look at what successful leaders do to maximize their effectiveness both before and after they become managers.
Whether you manage a small community organization or a large Fortune 500 company this book will help you become a more effective leader by providing you with an in depth insight into what great managers think about and consider when building a successful organization.
Learn first hand what it takes to lead like a legend, because if you can lead well… you won't manage to fail.
Order your copy today: Lead to Succeed and You Won't Manage to Fail
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March 11, 2011
Social Media Internships
Are you interested in social media? Already a social media guru? Have online accounts with Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tumblr or other online communities? The International Leadership Corporation is looking for a few good interns to help develop a stronger online presence and company profiles.
Send your resumes to resumes@leadershipcorporation.com for consideration.
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March 10, 2011
Internships: The Quickest Way To Gen Y Success
by Jamie Farrell
What is the one thing that ALL career advisors agree on?
Internships.
They agree that internships are the best way to:
Gain real world knowledge not being taught in classrooms
Greatly increase their sphere of influence through networking
Most important, make the entry-level candidate far more employable
In fact, a recent study by Gardner, Chow and Hurst for Michigan State states that 90% of direct-from-college hires will go to those with internship experience on their resume.
Let's look at a couple real life examples: James "Scrappy" Stassen – currently the stage manager for Justin Bieber, managing all audio engineering and stage moves – major job for the biggest star in the world right now. Prior to that, he managed T-Payne's multi-billion dollar tour. How did he get there?
Internships. Working with the right people, networking – yes – for free, with the right people, and being passionate enough about his love of music to go against the grain.
He could have gone to Harvard with his perfect SAT score; yet he chose to go to a school that focused solely on audio/music engineering. He tapped into the internship program, and now he is the most famous audio engineer and stage manager in the business. And he achieved this by age 29…starting through internships. (He's also been my best friend for 20 years so I'm extremely proud of him!)
When I hit 23, I followed his lead. I loved marketing and loved innovation. I only wanted to do things that had never been done before. I knew that working for a start-up company was the KEY to learning and moving up quickly. I kept my full time job and also accepted an internship at a start-up called Education Connection.
I worked for free in the beginning, and the education I received from that internship was worth two Ivy League college degrees. By 25, I was making six figures; all thanks to internships.
As I've been speaking with career experts, I've been studying and looking for one common denominator that leads to success. All data points to two things: start-up experience and internships.
I just happened to be lucky. I didn't know this at the time, but it was the path I chose. Now it's time to impart this information to others and guide them in finding their passion, and finding it quickly.
So I set about some research and due diligence. I did some Internet research and found that most of the internship sites were frustrating to me.
I could see the positions offered for interns, especially at the Fortune 500s were all the types of jobs that "sound good," but I knew they would be the type where these interns were doing nothing but copying papers and other busy work. It may look decent on a resume if you get a great company, but minimal learning takes place.
Then I came upon a site called YouTern. I was amazed. It was a site targeting internships for start-up, entrepreneurial companies. The internships offered were awesome. There were no copying papers; these interns were thrown directly into the proverbial fire. I love it.
Being a "connector", I reached out to owner Mark Babbitt. I asked how his team came upon this idea. He explained: For our company, and for our partners and customers, we went to the Internet to find entrepreneurial-minded, passionate intern candidates. As lifetime entrepreneurs and mentors ourselves, we didn't want the 'I'm just riding out the summer' type of interns; we wanted those who were ready to contribute now – to really step up. Those who would dive head first into the shallow end of the pool, knowing they would go on to amazing careers. When there was no resource available that even came close, we often found ourselves swearing at the browser. Then we said, 'Wait… there is NO resource available!' And we set out to build YouTern – a true first-to-market opportunity – when we didn't think there were any of those left." As this blog talks about personal and professional growth, it would be a disservice to not introduce you to this service (and it's free!). For Gen Y, this is your site; you'll feel at home and the internships are for companies like United by Blue, GenJuice and even Marvel Entertainment (want to intern for Wolverine?), plus hundreds of other start-ups in Silicon Valley, Orange County, Austin and New York.
I also saw that YouTern also posts internships at change-oriented non-profits – perfect for the Millennial mindset of social responsibility.
For those of you who are a bit older, two things:
1) You probably have children – this is made for them. Introduce them to it. No need to "push it"… they will engage in the community themselves. The site is so engaging that the average site stay is over 20 minutes; phenomenal user experience.
2) You may even want to look at it for yourself; for your company to acquire interns of the Gen Y intelligence, ambition and innovation sector.
As Mr. Babbitt said to me, "Entrepreneurial internships are proverbial "win-win". The intern gains incredible hands-on experience – and perhaps a life-long mentor – at a dynamic start-up. At the same time, the company extends bandwidth through highly-qualified, technically-savvy contributors."
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March 6, 2011
10 Ways To Improve Your Customer Service
1. Stay in contact with customers on a regular basis. Offer them a free e-zine subscription. Ask customers if they want to be updated by e-mail when you make changes to your Web site. After every sale, follow-up with the customer to see if they are satisfied with their purchase.
2. Create a customer focus group. Invite ten to twenty of your most loyal customers to meet regularly. They will give you ideas and input on how to improve your customer service. You could pay them, take them out to dinner or give them free products.
3. Make it easy for your customers to navigate on your web site. Have a "FAQ" page on your Web site to explain anything that might confuse your customers. Ask them to fill out an electronic survey to find out how make your web site more customer friendly.
4. Resolve your customers complaints quickly and successfully. Answer all e-mail and phone calls within an hour. If possible, you the owner of the business, personally take care of the problem. This will show your customers you really care about them.
5. Make it easy for your customers to contact you. Offer as many contact methods as possible. Allow customers to contact you by e-mail. Hyperlink your e-mail address so customers won't have to type it. Offer toll free numbers for phone and fax contacts.
6. Make sure employees know and use your customer service policy. Give your employees bonuses or incentives to practice excellent customer service. Tell employees to be flexible with each individual customer, each one has different concerns, needs and wants.
7. Give your customers more than they expect. Send thank you gifts to lifetime customers. E-mail them online greeting cards on holidays or birthdays. Award bonuses to your customers who make a big purchase.
8. Always be polite to your customers. Use the words your welcome, please, and thank you. Be polite to your customers even if they are being irate with you. Always apologize to your customers should you make a mistake. Admit your mistakes quickly and make it up to them in a big way.
9. Reward customers a point for every one dollar they spend. Let's say customers can get a free computer for 300 points. That means customers will spend $300 dollars on your products and services to get enough points to get the free computer.
10. Build strong relationships with your customers. Invite them to company meetings, luncheons, workshops or seminars. Create special events for your customers like parties, barbecue's, dances etc. This will make them feel important when you include them in regular business operations and special events.
© 2004 Larry Dotson
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