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I had the incredible opportunity to speak at the Tucson Young Professionals CEO Roundtable event on March 11 …

What an honor … but to be honest with you … I’m terrified of public speaking!

… So I came up with a plan … My plan was to just be honest (like I’m being with you!) and tell my audience just that. My next plan was to incorporate my points into stories …

Surely, I can get up and tell stories without my knees shaking … (Knees shaking a little) …

So off I went …

When I arrived, I found a room full of good lookin’ young professionals. There they were, waiting for me to tell them about my success, failures, and hear it all …

To get comfortable and acquainted, I immediately approached as many people as I could and introduced myself. By the time it was time to rock and roll, I was completely relaxed and eager!

So … I stood up, and said, “I’m terrified, so is it all right if I just keep it real?” They laughed and we got started …

I told my story of being raised on both sides of the Mexico/U.S. border. Of being raised by a single mother and then becoming a single mother myself … Of supporting my daughters by going from one sales job to another and after several years of jumping around settling into advertising sales …

Why did I start by talking about this?

Because in every room, there is someone who thinks they are the only one who “fill in the blank.”

I went into talking about how I met my husband, Doug, and how I wound up joining him in his law practice …

Why does this matter?

Because everyone has been faced with a difficult decision, and they are unsure and/or scared.

Then I started talking about being in business for six years and only then realizing my true, personal reason for wanting to be in the business I am in today …

This thought spurred my first piece of advice:

Find Your Purpose
There has to be something so compelling, so meaningful, that you will wake up every morning and jump out of bed excited to get started …. in spite of yesterday’s disappointments or failures. It is THAT reason that you MUST get up!

My story led into later years, when business was good … very good, but I had another lesson to learn:

Check Your Ego
There is nothing more humbling than to have to ask … no, wait … BEG, our MENTORS to get on a plane and come to Tucson to help get our business back on track.

What’s the point? The point is, with hard work, success does come. Do you get to keep it? Of course, but only with continued work and growth … and an ego check on the daily. Stay humble, and be smart.

And, as your career or business evolves, new opportunities will come up, bigger problems and doubts will keep you right where you are at. It boils down to fear.

So …

Get The (False) Stories Out Of Your Head
The chatter in your head that says, “You will fail, because you don’t have the right education, not enough education, you are a woman, you are Hispanic, African American, too old, too young, you are simply not enough, too … whatever … !”

It’s garbage! Get rid of it!

Surround yourself with the right influence and I don’t mean your mom telling you, “You can grow up to be whatever you want.” I mean, people who have done what you want to do, people who view the world positively and with humor. People who are smart and wise yet have gotten the crap kicked out of them (Remember? Humility). Read, learn, grow and KEEP MOVING!

As I scanned the room, people were making notes, typing on their iPads or simply nodding their heads … I knew that they (just like I did) needed to hear this encouragement and perspective!

I finished my talk by emphasizing the importance of loving and giving to those around you. And about enjoying the success and having fun!

It then became an open floor discussion and questions … Insightful, awesome questions … even questions I wish I had asked earlier on!

The absolute best part of that evening was having my 4-year-old granddaughter sitting in the audience …

I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great to have this little sweet child in a room with interesting discussion and smart people …”

And I was right …

She had sat quietly the entire time and when I finished, she walked over to me and said:

“Grandma, you did very good with your talking!”

I did, didn’t I …

Doug and I have been in the personal injury industry for over 10 years now. I have been involved in every detail and every aspect of the company’s birth, growth, transformation, innovation, lows, highs and everything you can think of in
between …

And you know what THE MOST important aspect is?

The client.

No questions asked.

Sure, there are aspects of any company that call for mutual constituency, but without your clients, customers, patrons …

You got nothing.

But …

What happens when YOU become that “most important factor”?

In other words …

What happens when you become the client in the very industry you serve?

It happened, and recently enough to make me really think about and feel for our clients at a whole new level …

You see … our grandchildren don’t get to visit us as often as we’d like, but when they are in town – it is all about being with them, spending time with them and just being present and loving on them …

About a month ago, my grandbabies, Doug and I were in the car when we got rear ended … If you’ve been in an accident, you must know how scary it is …

And when you have kids in the car, the most precious beings … your fear is amplified!

Parents and grandparents, I know you hear me on this – the first thing you do is turn to the kids and ask if they are okay and then you check on yourself …

And when I got to myself, boy, did it hurt! At the time we were hit, I was turned, talking to my grandson and then BAM!

Now, here is the reality: We were SO lucky – it was a minor accident and everyone in the car was fine … Well … I definitely had to go to the chiropractor a few times, but things got fixed … It helped that we were Zanes Law, injury lawyers LOL!

But, people, here is what struck me the most –

We knew what to do, where to go and how to execute the next steps in an accident like this … Heck, I only had to go to the chiropractor a few times to heal …

It made me think about our clients … How they must feel when THEY get into an accident, big or small – they must feel scared, confused and in a lot of pain …

I had to speak to our case managers and see the doctor a couple of times and I found myself … a little grumpy?

What about our clients who have to see the doctor for months, or worse, for the year … clients who have to deal with the damage of their car and who have to figure out how to rearrange their lives so life can still happen despite their accident …

I thought about all of this …

And then I thought about how accidents affect not only the people in the accident, but those around the injured person …

You see, when we got hit that day, we were headed over to Peter Piper Pizza for some fun … but once we got hit, my pain set in quickly and I couldn’t get on any of the rides or play any games with my grandbabies …

And you know what … When I Skyped with the babies a couple of weeks later … You know the first thing they said to me?

“Grandma, ’member how you couldn’t go on the ride with us at Peter Piper?”

Will we all live…? OF COURSE …

But it wasn’t ANY WAY how I wanted to spend the last day of vacation with my grandchildren …

It so clearly put into perspective what our clients are going through and more. It reiterated to me, once again, why the client – our clients – are the most important part of what we do every single day.

It reminded me that we, Doug and I, our team, our attorneys – we don’t just help people who get into accidents …

What we do is help people get their lives back together after an accident, and for that, I am grateful.

How often do you think about your finances?

OR

“How long am I going to live?”

OR

“How much money will I need to live?”

OR

Have you ever sat down and really calculated how much wealth you need to accumulate to live a financially free life?

Doug and I recently attended yet another AMAZING Tony Robbins event.  The event was five days of immersion on finances… Did I lose you … anyone? … Okay good ☺

We started by doing an exercise to define the exact amount of income to become “financially free”. And by financially free”, I mean the following categories:

1. Financial Protection:  This is when you have enough cash to keep things together. Your critical obligations include mortgage, utilities, transportation, food and insurance. This is basically 6-12 months of saved cash.
2. Financial Security:  This is enough cash to pay for the above items without having to ever work again.
3. Financial Vitality:  This is when you are earning enough from your investments to pay for your basic needs, mortgage, utilities, transportation, food, insurance AND three additional expenses like:  basic entertainment, clothing or luxury items and children’s education.
4. Financial Independence:  This is when your investments produce income equal to your “work” income.  You only work if you want to.
5. Financial Freedom:  This is your annual income “without having to work” plus additional luxuries like name brand clothes, jewelry, vacations, boats, cars and any other toys.
6. Absolute Financial Freedom:  This is when your income through investments allows you to do with certainty, whatever you want, with whomever you want, whenever you want.  Without ever working again!

Do you know what category you’re in?

Honestly, I never even thought about categories for financial freedom – I thought you were either free or you weren’t.

AND –

What category do you WANT to be in?

You see, most of us go about our lives working, spending and maybe even saving without really knowing what the END game is.

By starting with this simple exercise – even just identifying the category in which we fell into and where we wanted to move from there – we got to the exact dollar amount we needed to reach our goals…

We now have direction and certainty!  Let me tell you – That feels really, really good.

And the odd thing is … the amount or “figure” we thought we needed wasn’t it all!

You may just surprise yourself ☺

Among the many exciting and motivating projects that we have going on at Zanes Law, I am most excited about the ones that bring added value to the firm and to our clients. In fact, it is the little things that we are creating with our innovation and creativity that keep me running as fast as I do and jumping as high as I do!

One thing we are doing this year is what Tony Robbins calls “New Voices” (has anyone heard of this?). I had my executive assistant set a day every month where we come together, either as an executive group or multiple departmental groups, and we just brainstorm ideas, concepts, and innovations – ANYTHING that could add MORE value to our clients and to our firm.

It is a chance and a space where no question or idea is “stupid.” It is a space where we remain OPEN to new possibility of growth, creation, innovation and expansion! The best part is the COLLABORATION!

As I’ve said before: 40 heads are better than one and when an idea presents itself and we feel the potential and excitement of the possibilities of execution … Well … WE GO FOR IT!

Why is “New Voices” so important to me and to the growth of the firm and the people in it?

For me, it’s about accountability. In other words, my intentions are not to be excited and talk about everything I learned with Tony Robbins (and other mentors) only to get back to the “grind” a week or two later.

This is about going ALL in and making massive change by doing little things every day, every week, every month – this accumulates into an amazing year!

Hence “New Voices” every month… and… new ideas… and new collaborations … EVERY TIME!

In fact –

One idea that birthed from our “New Voices” was the concept of “case study groups”…

You are probably wondering what and why a law firm would have a “case study”…

Well … just like most companies, we want to serve our clients better than they have ever been served … BUT … We cannot do that if we don’t know WHAT THEY WANT and WHO THEY ARE as people ….

The better we know our client or potential client, the more optimally we can serve them!

Surveys and Case Study groups are being developed as we speak! It inspires me to continue to do the work that I do not only as a Co-Founder of Zanes Law but as a creator – concepts such as “New Voices” keep me (and my team) accountable to expanding our imaginations serving our clients and each other better.

Keep creating, creators!

Do you all remember when I was telling you about the trip to Vegas that Doug and I took? Well, we went to see Britney Spears in concert there and boy, was I excited! We had bought our tickets (front row!) in advance and we were ready to rock.

Now, mind you, this was not our first Britney concert, so we were EXPECTING an incredible, engaging, high-energy performance …

Unfortunately …

That was NOT the case. Now, look, this post is not about hating on Britney. We bought tickets because we love her music and the shows she produces …

However, you all know that I have been on an ADDED VALUE marathon (and I’m still going!) … And to be perfectly honest … Well …

The concert was awful – and that’s being polite. She was lazy in dancing; she lip-synced some parts! And her appearance was almost unrecognizable! The only good part was the fact that Lady Gaga made a guest appearance and breezed by us, close enough to reach out and touch!

Here’s the thing – not only did we pay mad money for the tickets (monetary VALUE), we also EXPECTED a great performance because that is what we had gotten in the past.

And when you over promise and under deliver … loyalty begins to dwindle. Now, will Britney go out of business because of me? Of course not, but it was more a matter of delivering on the value you promised via past performances.

I can provide you with a great example: Let’s say that a business, any business that is listed on Yelp or another review site, decides that it wishes to say “thank you” to its clients, customers or patrons who leave a great review. That entity expresses gratitude in the form of a $25 gift card.

Let’s say word gets around to other clients, customers or patrons that if they, too, complete a review for X restaurant or X company, they would get a $25 gift card … And then … let’s say the restaurant or company stops doing that … it stops giving out gift cards …

The X restaurant or X company says, “Thank you very much for your review,” but the customer/client is still waiting on the EXPECTED performance (the $25 gift card) and … it never comes.

Energy about that particular company dwindles from “they’re awesome” to “they’re Fill-in-the-Blank.” … Right? And then, after a low-energy run, you get an even fewer number of clients, customers and patrons … In our case – two fewer fans.

Over promising and under delivering … Britney essentially did the same …

Photo courtesy of Digital Spy

A couple of weekends ago, Doug and I ended up going to Vegas to see the Britney Spears concert (more about Britney in a later post). As always, we had a great time!!

If you’ve been to Vegas (who hasn’t?!), then you know the flash, the brightness, the enormity of pretty much everything around you. This goes for the food, too – in fact, some of the best dining Doug and I have experienced has been in Vegas.

Well, that weekend we found ourselves at Aquaknox Restaurant – basically exquisite (and, lord, expensive!) seafood. As we settled down for some drinks, Doug spotted my favorite chardonnay, Kistler, and we ordered some …

As the waiter came around, he set down two glasses in front of us for the purpose of sampling. He uncorked the wine and poured … (I promise I have a point here) … Anyway, as I brought the newly poured glass of wine up to my lips for a taste, I realized that the glass was already marked with lipstick stains … NOT my own!

Gross, right? Definitely. I kindly told the waiter that the glass he gave me was, in fact, dirty. Of course, he apologized and brought me back a clean glass. However, this time, the manager came back with the glass and again sincerely apologized for the dirty glass …

Then the manager offered the bottle of wine at a discount for us, which we gladly accepted …

Okay, let me stop here for a second – has this happened to you before? How did you react?

BUT …

More importantly, how did the waiter and management staff react?

My last question is vital to this post because what happened next at this restaurant truly made me a loyal customer to Aquaknox for many years to come …

So, as I said, we received the bottle at a discount and continued our dining experience. We ordered food, chatted, people watched … about 10 minutes later, our waiter comes up to us with a plate of AMAZING oysters … a few minutes later, he checks on us and asks how we liked the oysters (to which we replied with gushing approval!).

The waiter leaves us and comes back almost immediately with two glasses filled with oyster shooters (never had these before … delicious, if you were wondering) …

An appetizer on the house … Now we are getting comfortable and we order another bottle of wine to which the waiter states is ALSO DISCOUNTED!

Wait, there’s more …

Another 10 to 15 minutes goes by and our waiter comes back with another question –

“Do you both like tartar?”

To which Doug responds: “She doesn’t like steak tartar but we love tartar in general.”

The waiter thanks us for our answer and disappears … He then reappears with a beautifully presented plate of tuna tartar!

Another appetizer on the house! Folks, this goes on all night until Doug and I are officially stuffed!

Okay, okay, this isn’t for the purpose of making your taste buds water … Maybe a little 🙂 … but really, this experience got me thinking about the concept of EXTRA, a two-for-one surprise …WHAT IF companies handled mistakes as a great opportunity? … What are companies, restaurants and other services doing to DELIGHT their customers and clients …

Better yet, what are they doing to rectify a mistake, to make it up to their people when they messed up … Is it a simple apology and that’s it?

OR

Is it going a mile farther to say “I’m sorry” and “Please let us show you that we will not only make it up to you, we will eliminate any bad feelings you may have had.”

In fact, “We will have you leaving our doors feeling more happy, more excited and content with our business then when you walked in.”

Now THAT is what will keep me coming back.

Photo courtesy of Aquaknox