Resources in this Episode:

Christine Schlonski [0:03]
Hi Gorgeous, welcome to episode number 076. I am so excited to have the outstanding Skip Prichard back today, who by the way was also named by Inc. Magazine as one of the top 100 leadership speakers so you do not want to miss out.

Skip Prichard [0:20]
Hi, this is Skip Prichard you are listening to Heart Sells! Podcast with Christine Schlonski . Enjoy!

Christine Schlonski [0:25]
Well, after learning so much from the earlier episode, I am so excited to have Skip back with us. I’m also, I’m very excited because we are running the Sales Mentality Makeover Masterclass right now, where 20 amazing experts at teaching you spiritual and practical steps how you can increase your sales and create true wealth without losing your authenticity. So hop on over to christineschlonski.com where you find the top Sales Mentality Makeover Masterclass #3. You can still sign up for the free event, we have still a couple of days to run. You can get all the knowledge, all the content, so hop on over and do that. Also, check out the wonderful episode with Skip, episode number 075 at christineschlonski.com, there’s a podcast tab where you can listen to all these amazing episodes. I’m so happy that Skip is back today because he is not just an accomplished CEO, growth-oriented leader, and keynote speaker but he has also a track record of successfully repositioning companies and dramatically improving results while also improving the corporate culture. His views have been featured in various media, including BBC, New York Times, CNN, NPR, Harvard Business Review, Information Today, Entrepreneur, CEO Magazine and others, I mean, what a list. The Harvard Business Review just recently labeled him as one of the rare social CEOs and a “relentless giver.” Inc. Magazine lists him as a Top 100 Leadership Speaker, and his Leadership Insights blog has won numerous awards. So I’m so excited to have Skip back today and to tune in and go deeper with all the material that he is sharing. Well, thank you so much for being back on the show, Skip, I just can’t wait to continue this amazing interview. So people if you have not yet checked out the episode, the Skip Prichard before you need to do that. Then you need to tune into this one because he has shared so many golden nuggets that you can not miss out. Welcome back to the show.

Skip Prichard [2:54]
Thank you so much for having me, you have a great show and I’m always inspired to listening, to listening into your guests.

Christine Schlonski [3:00]
Thank you so much. So in the in the last episode, we talked about your entrepreneurial blood and that you already started selling your stuff that you created in kindergarten. What I found really remarkable is the approach of the different schools. So you mentioned, you went down to a private school and the principal, all of a sudden had a different point of view of your sales activities. Instead of closing your store, he kind of only pointed the way that you have to sell to him so he can sell it in the official store in the school. So you became a wholesaler as well, which is really amazing. Do you think there might be in the school system a little bit of that difference if it’s a private school or a public school that children are raised in a different way when it comes to entrepreneurship?

Skip Prichard [4:00]
I don’t think it’s necessarily public versus private, I really think it’s about the philosophy of leadership. The leader of one institution was very different than the leader of another. Now they both have various reasons I wish as an adult I could ask them what their rationale was, they probably don’t even remember it, although they might because it was so unusual. The philosophy that we have, and regardless of where we are in leadership, we have the opportunity to encourage and foster innovation and creativity and entrepreneurship, where we have the ability to shut it down. There are many leaders of companies who think that employees should do nothing but serve the organization. That is all they can do in life and I believe that’s the wrong view. I believe that having multiple outlets and multiple different things that you do, is actually healthy, inspires creativity, you learn new skills and this is very valuable. So I think it was a leadership philosophy between the two of them but it was a very different approach. Do I encourage this or not? Now, as a little kid, I had no idea what to expect. I was fearful of what was going to happen and afraid the second time that it would be shut down. I’m kind of dragging, “Here we go again”, “I’m losing my opportunity”, but it does teach you extraordinary things in life and to find a way and to find another way. If a door shuts find a different way around it. There’s always a way to find your path to success, door will be shut, go to the next door. That’s the wonderful thing about selling and you talk a lot about this and selling with heart is just keep going. It’s an odds game. It’s a ratio game, and you can get all of these No’s and then you finally get the Yes that makes the difference. Even getting those No’s, I always look at it as extraordinarily valuable. I learned each time that somebody says no. I learned when he says, “I’m going to shut down your store” , because I’m trying to understand, “Why are you doing that?”, and, “What else can I do?”, and, “Is there another way?”, “What can I learn from the No that will make the next one more successful?”, and I think even as a kid, learning from that no, I was learning from Well, what mistakes, thinking about The Book of Mistakes, what mistakes was I making that was encouraging that response? Is there a different way that I could approach it, then it may be different? I remember that second time I was explaining to the principal, how valuable this jewelry was, how much it was needed, how their needs weren’t being met, and that there were presents that the kids needed for their parents, and this was a wonderful opportunity for them. I think, he hadn’t been amused at me, actually. I mean, he just had chuckled and just thought, “Who are you? What are you thinking?” What a great lesson this for us as leaders to look at? How are we encouraging others and fostering an environment of creativity and success instead of shutting that down? I think that’s a very important lesson.

Christine Schlonski [7:28]
Yeah, and I love how you just described how you have developed on the way that you have learned from the first experience that you need quite some good arguments and for the second time, you had them ready. Also, you were bold enough to open up a new store with a new product and to just retry it in a new environment. I think often, people think well. I talked to 10 clients, and they all said, “No!” My product must not be any good or nobody wants to buy it. Which the truth is, they just haven’t talked to enough people.

Skip Prichard [8:09]
It’s so true Christine, I would just say one of the mistakes in The Book of Mistake #6 is allowing temporary setbacks to become permanent failures. The most successful people do not allow a temporary setback to stop them. They look at, “Well, what is the way forward? Is there a different path? I interviewed Chrissie Wellington, she’s the world’s greatest female endurance athlete. She, at one point, injured herself. Instead of letting that stop her, she took up swimming. Well, now that she was running and swimming, she took up biking, and that’s how she got into being the world’s greatest triathlete. Well, she never would have done that but for this horrible accident that slowed her down and running. So she thought, “Well, I need to exercise. I’ll try something else.” The point is, we’re not going to allow a setback to become a failure. Most of us would be like, “Well, I guess I can’t run anymore. Guess, I’ll sleep in, hit the snooze button and forget it.” The most successful people kind of keep redefining that. It’s okay to get down. We all have emotions, it’s okay to be depressed, just don’t make it too long. “Okay, I now need to bounce back, I’m going to set a period, I’m going to allow myself to be down for 24 hours and then tomorrow, I’m going to wake up and I’m going to be re-determined. I’m going to reignite this, I’m going to start over, I’m going to do something different. I’m going to listen to a podcast, read something expiring, and I’m going to reset this. I am not going to allow a temporary setback, to just stop me in my tracks.” If you do that, you’re going to be on the failure side of the ledger instead of being on the success side of the ledger, where you end up is your choice. Just don’t let that happened to you. Let it be a learning experience to propel you to greatness.

Christine Schlonski [10:06]
Yes, so beautifully said. How do you deal with rejection today? Can you really just get it into one ear, ask some feedback and get it out? Or is it something that still bothers you a little bit? How do you deal with it?

Skip Prichard [10:24]
I think, first of all, it depends on the source where it’s coming from. Somebody told me, “Be careful.” If you overreact sometimes you have to learn how to manage that, how to reprogram your self-talk, reprogram the way you’re experiencing it. So much of it is based on your unique personality. There are certain people who will come in with criticism, you need to ask them more questions, because I found that so people are coming in as a critic, but their heart speaking of, you’re all about that and being with heart, their hearts actually in the right place. They’re not really trying to criticize you, they’re actually there to champion you, they want you to get better, they’re actually thinking that the criticism that they gave you, which may sting is actually helpful. I find it very interesting to stop and ask those questions and say, “Tell me a little bit more about that.” I also even like to express, “Oh, that hurt. I’m having an emotional reaction to that, that stung me. I don’t quite know why.” People, oftentimes they think, “Well, you’re the CEO, you’re the boss, you’re this”, but if you’re transparent and authentic and open with them, I think that they’re willing to share with, “Well, here’s what I meant by that and here’s the way that’s coming across.” So I’ve learned it can make me much better when I listen to people, share some of that criticism, but it does stink. I mean, every critic that comes out there, you can’t just say, “Oh!”, but you have to look and say, well, what’s the source, you said, on the last call you were talking about our interview, you were talking about hurting people hurt people. Sometimes, if they’re criticizing you and sending her doubt, it’s actually more about the hurt they’re experiencing, I saw this with people that we took in as a family growing up, and some of them were were really badly, physically, sexually, mentally abused. The criticism, the negativity that would come out was actually nothing to do with you and everything to do with what they had been through. How small of me and how shallow of me, if I’m focused on myself in that criticism, if I don’t take the time to say, “I want to talk about you, I want to understand what you’ve been through.” You just have to understand perspective because oftentimes, it’s really about a need that they have, or so maybe they want you to get better, it may be that they’re lashing out because of an experience they had, and they need to get through that. The point is this, we just can’t leap to our conclusion based on our experience on what’s coming from our eyes, we have to take the time to look at it from all angles, to understand their perspective, to listen and clarify and understand and understand not only how it affected us, but understand their heart and what’s being affected in them. I have found that is not easy to do, it takes time but when you do that you get much more authentic, deeper, more powerful advice than you ever could if you’re just taking the critique and saying, “What do you mean? That’s crazy”, and then you move on. You’ve missed the magic of that connection point.

Christine Schlonski [14:01]
Oh, I love that you miss the magic of that connection point. Yeah, like holding the space and really discovering, understanding where this comes from. Also, what I learned and I would love to have your perspectives on that, especially when it comes to our business. For example, if somebody gives you advice, or criticizes you who’s not your ideal client, who will never ever buy from you, how do you handle that?

Skip Prichard [14:31]
Well, I think it’s, it’s important to put it in perspective. Is this good advice? Is there something here or not? Christine, you don’t want to be judgmental, but you have to understand where people are coming from and who they are. I’ve heard people giving incredible financial advice to me early on in my life, who were financially destitute, I have to put that in a category. I’ve had people at the gym that I’ve overheard giving advice to I heard this recently, a very overweight man who was in horrible physical shape, was giving a specific instructions to a young, basically a young bodybuilder type. I thought to myself, “I don’t know if that kid is being kind to listen to this man or what, but this is bad advice, right?” I mean, you have to, of course, he has his own story. It’s not like you can’t listen to him or learn from him. I’m not saying that but you have to be careful to if somebody is bankrupt, and you’re taking financial advice from them. Does that make any sense? If somebody had six business failures in a row, and can’t seem to get anything off the ground? Is that who you want to tune in for your main advice on running a business? I think we have to be careful to put the voices in that will inspire us of somebody who’s been there and done that. Now again, you can learn from their errors, you can learn from their mistakes, you can learn from their failures. I’m a huge believer in that. If that’s all you’d listen to, then you’re not going to get where you want to be. Tune in to the people who have overcome, who do know how to do it, who do understand the issues. You don’t want someone who’s been indicted for tax fraud to be giving you tax advice. It’s not exactly wise. If somebody is giving you advice to your business, who’s not even a customer and not even a prospective customer. You take it with it’s worth, and you don’t weigh it too heavily. You listen to it, and you move on, “Okay, thank you.”

Christine Schlonski [16:49]
Yeah, because I found quite often that people get advice or criticism, and then they don’t really know what to do with it, and they get upset but when they look on a bigger scale, the criticism, advice came not from the ideal client. Then it’s kind of difficult to really pay attention to that because those people will never ever buy from them. If my dad would try to give me business advice, well, he doesn’t have any background and I’m smart enough to be polite, but not to listen, because it’s not going to help me. I go out to people that have the results that I desire to, to get orientation from them.

Skip Prichard [17:36]
I always look at the person’s background, I think about their perspective and then I think about their motivation and their intention. So do they have my best interests at heart? Or is this something for them? Some people are uncomfortable if a friend of theirs is achieving higher and higher levels of success than they are and the way that they try to handle that, often is not by saying, “How did you get there? I’d like to go up the ladder with you but I’m more comfortable knocking you down so that we’re back here on the ground together and that we’re all miserable.” So who were around and what their motivation is, is important, they may not actually say that, they may not actually be aware of that, that might not be part of their awareness and yet it can happen. What is their perspective? What is their intention? Another one of the mistakes from my book is about surrounding yourself with the wrong people. This is incredibly important in business. It’s not just personal, it’s, “Am I surrounding myself with the people that will take me to where I want to go or not?” Les Brown says, “If you run around with nine losers, pretty soon you’ll be the 10th loser.” Who am I around? Where do they have me going? It’s very important that you don’t just think that people are around you and not making a difference on your journey. They’re making a huge impact. So those voices, you’re the one letting those voices come into your mind. Why? I would choose to be around people who are your prospective clients, listen to them. Then all of a sudden, if you have that piece of advice, and it’s in your head, you need to actually get it out by going to the people who are in your target market and say, “Hey, I’m doing a study, and I’d love for you to give me some feedback. Could you just help? I don’t even care if you buy this, I just would love to, you’re my ideal client. Would you help me? Would you give me some perspective on how does this sound?” Most people are happy to help with those types of things? If you’re just asking them they might actually buy?

Christine Schlonski [19:42]
Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. So do you have a mantra or a quote you like to use for yourself, to empower you or to motivate you for the day? Is there anything you could share with the audience,

Skip Prichard [19:59]
I am a collector of quotes, I collect them, I studied them, I read them, I share them on a daily on my Twitter feed and blog, I love to do that. In fact, my book is set up that at the end of each chapter, the quotes that are from that chapter are there clearly and I’ve had people quoting them, in fact, one of those quotes is, was shared with me just this morning, and it helped motivate this person to start a business and that is about readiness. The question was, how do I know if I’m ready to begin this business or in lose weight or whatever? In the book, I say this quote, I say, “Readiness is when your desire is greater than your distraction.” That to me is important because so often whether we’re starting a business or relaunching a business or starting to lose weight, or get in shape, or become financially independent. Are we ready? Readiness is when your desire is greater than your distraction. If you think of that, as a mantra, you want to think about. First of all, what is my desire? Can I make that desire so clear, in my mind, so clear, in meditation, so clear in my goals? What are my distractions? How do I limit them? How do I decrease them? How do I push them to the side so that I’m really ready to move forward? Readiness is when your desire is greater than your distraction, work on both sides of that equation, increasing your desire and reducing your distractions.

Christine Schlonski [21:37]
Beautiful, beautiful. Well, thank you so so much. So again, the amazing book is, The Book of Mistakes, and the subtitle is, 9 Secrets to Creating a Successful Future. People can find you at skipprichard.com. I would love to encourage everybody to go have a look, get the book and really support yourself on the success path because you have shared in the book such a wealth of experience, that everybody that reads it will have a better life no matter what. So thank you so, so much for being on Heart Sells! Podcast. I enjoyed the interview immensely. Thanks for sharing all your wisdom.

Skip Prichard [22:25]
Thank you so much for having me. It’s a delight to be here.

Christine Schlonski [22:28]
Thank you! Have a great day. Bye

Skip Prichard [22:30]
You too.

Christine Schlonski [22:31]
It was such an honor and pleasure to talk to Skip about the philosophy of leadership, about his entrepreneurial steps. It’s so wonderful to see all the success he has had from being a relentless giver. I guess what I want to give you or the message I want to make clear today is the more you give, the more you can receive, and Skip is highly successful. I really recommend his book, which is amazing. It talks about mistakes so that you can become a better version of yourself. Most of the learning will be by mistakes. So don’t hesitate, hop on over to christineschlonski.com. Check out the show notes. The link there to the resources. The book is called The Book of Mistakes: 9 Secrets to Creating a Successful Future. Skip has learned from so many different people, from so many different walks of life, that it is just amazing to get that awesome job and those interviews, make sure you check out interview 075 if you have not yet, thank you so much for having been here. Also, I just want to remind you if you have not heard about it, right now it is super, super exciting because the Sales Mentality Makeover Masterclass is going on. There are 20 outstanding world-class leaders, speakers, entrepreneurs, who share their wisdom with you, who show you the path they have taken, the mistakes they have made to become the people they are today and to share their success secrets with you. So hop on over to christineschlonski.com for all the show notes for this podcast episode as well for the masterclass. All you need to do is check out the top once you are at christineschlonski.com and then make sure you have a good read of Skip’s amazing book and tune into this podcast plus join the masterclass because it’s going to be on from the 15th of May till the 25th. That is the only period of that class where you can actually join and learn. So thank you so much for having been here. Have an amazing, amazing day, wherever you are in this beautiful world and I’m saying, bye for now.