I just wanted to take a quick minute and thank all of the attendees of the 2010 Glazer Kennedy Super Conference for your generous donations to the Olivia Davis Foundation.  We will be sure to keep in touch so that you can see the families that your contribution will be helping out.  For my friends, clients and Glazer Kennedy members that weren’t able to attend I wanted to share the video that we played to day for attendees.

The Olivia Davis Foundation has been chosen as the charity of choice for the 2010 Glazer Kennedy Marketing & Money Making Super Conference in Dallas, Texas April 29 – May 2, 2010.  The GKIC Super Conference is a gathering of the top entrepreneurs in the world.

Darin Spindler, the founder of The Olivia Davis Foundation is a Glazer Kennedy member and will be attending the event along with Andy O’ Mara.  Attendees of the event will be able to make a contribution to our foundation and in return will receive a great gift from Glazer Kennedy.

We’d like to thank all attendees in advance for their generous contributions and we’d also like to give a special thanks to Bill & Karen Glazer and Dan & Carla Kennedy for choosing The Olivia Davis Foundation as the charity for this event.

The Olivia Davis Foundation will be making a special donation that day to the family of GKIC Member Eric Paul who lost his battle with cancer on December 30, 2010.   Eric leaves behind four great children and we’re happy to be able to provide a little bit of help for future medical and education expenses.

We’ve created a very special video that will be presented at the Super Conference but we can’t publish it until after the event.

If you are unable to attend this event but would like to help out please click on the link below.  We’ll be sure to post picture after the event.

I hate it when I receive lousy customer service. What’s even worse is a dumb company policy combined with poor service. Recently I was going to take my daughter to breakfast at Perkins before I left for my trip to Mexico. Before we went to Perkins I made my daily run to Starbucks…watch the video to see what happens upon entering Perkins….Don’t forget to leave your comments below.

I recorded this a few days ago after another great experience on my favorite airline Delta. I was upgraded to first class on a flight to Mexico because of my frequent flier status.

At the Detroit Airport I had asked for an upgrade if it was available for my girlfriend…and clearly told the crabby lady from Delta that I would pay the typical $85 upgrade fee…In the video you'll hear what happens next.

If you'd like leave a comment too.

On Thursday I am jumping rope at daycare to help kids with  Leukemia. Before I’d let my Dad leave on vacation I made him record a quick video of me jump roping.

If you’d like to help put a few more bucks in my piggy bank so that I can help other kids I’d really appreciated it.  I’ll let you know how much money I was able to give the kids when my dad gets home next week.

******** Click Here To Help Presley Out… ********

Thanks,

Darin & Presley Spindler

I recorded this video in response to a member / client dropping off  one of my done for you marketing systems.  He was getting great traffic. Ranked #1 or #2 on Google in many different categories or search phrases.  Before my system his site was virtually invisible except in his small niche market where all of his competition was.  We had his site getting over 100 visits a day (80% from search engine optimization techniques).

His problem was getting his employees to do just 30 minutes of required work each week on their end to make it really sing.  Instead of putting his foot down and making his staff do the work he dropped off my system which is a Cadillac and opted for a simple solution (that doesn’t work)…basically a YUGO.  Not to mention these clowns didn’t even take the time to review the training videos and tips we provided with their system…DUMB!

I think that he’s running his business with his pants on the ground around his ankles tripping him up.  I would have fired the 3 lazy staff members and found 3 better ones to replace these bozos.  With unemployment in his area hovering around 13% there is no excuse for keeping staff members that won’t comply with your program.  Who’s running this place…You or Your Staff?  No wonder so many small businesses don’t survive economic conditions like we’re facing right now.

Pull your pants up and get back on track right now.  You’re the one signing the paychecks.  You’re the one with your house on the line.  Stop letting these losers run your businesses.

Donate Now To Help The Children

Because I’m Short On Time…I’m Going To Post A Press Release About This Below

Last summer Kids Bowl Free.com provided 2 Games of FREE bowling every day all summer long to nearly 500,000 families and 1,076,000 children.  562 bowling centers from coast to coast participated in the program.  Local bowling centers participate in the Kids Bowl Free program as a way to give back to their local community during the summer when they have extra lanes available.

Kids Bowl Free has added over 100 new centers that will be participating during the summer of 2010.  Kids Bowl Free has a goal this summer to provide bowling to over 3,000,000 children and over 1,000,000 families.

To see what participating families are saying about the Kids Bowl Free program visit http://kidsbowlfree.1tme1.com/.

Two of the Kids Bowl Free creators Andy Omara and Darin Spindler have created a foundation to help children and families that have been devastated financially and emotionally by a chronic medical condition.  They are going to be running the ING Miami ½ Marathon on January 31, 2010 with a goal of raising $100,000.00.   Funds will be raised online at www.KidsBowlFreeClubhouse.com.  Kids Bowl Free will be asking families that participated in the Kids Bowl Free program to train along with them and also have their children participate in raising funds for this great cause.

Darin and Andy have created the Olivia Davis Foundation to help a friend and business partner that had a daughter that’ been affected by a tragic medical condition.  Originally the foundation was created to offset the family medical bills, but it is now going to be used to help lots of other families.   The Olivia Davis Foundation will be making contribution to the following organizations:

• The Miami Children’s Hospital
• The Epilepsy Foundation Of Florida
• Make A Wish Foundation
• Our Time Theater – This is an organization that helps children that stutter
• Scoliosis Research Society
• We are also accepting donation requests from families that had participated in the Kids Bowl Free Program.  We are focusing all of our efforts on children and families affected by a debilitating childhood illness.  Requests can be emailed to darin@bowlingbusinessbuilders.com.  We review all requests and approved them on a quarterly basis.  Here are the months that we approve requests January, April, July, October.

Contact us for more information:

Darin Spindler

darin@bowlingbusinessbuilders.com

One of the questions that I get often has to relate in one way shape or form to how did you become so successful without going to college.  Really I think it’s a pretty silly question because if you look at some of the most successful entrepreneurs including Bill Gates (Founded Microsoft & now the richest person in the world), Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and about 50 other businesses) just to name a few; they don’t have a 4 year degree.  Today it’s more like a 5, 6 or more year degree.  With all of the talk coming out of Washington D.C. I think even more students will find excuses to become “life long” students racking up tens of thousands (some hundreds of thousands) of dollars in student loans, yet if you ask them what they are going to do many respond with a puzzled look on their face.

I truly believe in ongoing education, however it needs to be something that you have a passion for.  You have to really want to become a master at what you are trying to accomplish.  I reinvest lots of time, energy and money in acquiring new information, new tools, new contacts and finding short cuts to success each and every month.

One of the biggest reasons I believe that many people don’t succeed is they don’t have any written goals either.  I believe that if you have written goals of what you want in your life personally and professionally you can get whatever you want.  If you ask your friends or family members if they had a written goal for their personal life I’d bet a thousand dollars that less than 3 of 10 will have them.  How can I be so sure?  Most surveys will show that only 3 – 5 % of Americans actually have written goals.  Did you know that only 2% of American really gets wealthy?  Maybe this is just a coincidence, but probably not!  Goals motivate you to move mountains.  I recommend you share your goals with your friends and family members out loud.  Don’t keep them hidden…now you have pressure to perform.

Let me share my most recent personal goals with you…

Recently I committed to running the Miami 1/2 Marathon as a fundraiser for the Olivia Davis Foundation that I founded for a friend in need at the time.  Now we are helping other children and families that have been affected by a debilitating disease.   These families crushed by medical expenses and the pure emotional stress that comes along with it.  I hadn’t run a single mile for over 10 years before committing to this.

Step 1 – Told a bunch of friends and family members Step 2 – Told a 1/2 Million Families online about the attempt.  These are families that joined our Kids Bowl Free program.  We’re actually going to allow families to train with us online.  It should be fun. Step 3 – Started running on the treadmill at the YMCA Step 4 – Started asking questions at General Nutrition Centers (GNC) and got on a vitamin and protein shake plan to build muscle and stamina. Went to the running specialty store and got some tips on training from some guys who’ve done this before.  They sold me some socks that keep your feet from blistering and help your feet breathe.   They also sold me some “racing” shoes. Step 5 – Kind of on accident the Barista at the Starbucks told me that she was a personal trainer after I had told her about the Marathon.  Now I have a personal trainer working on helping me lift weights, etc. Step 6 – Complete the race and raise a whole bunch of money for The Olivia Davis Foundation. (Click Here To Help Out)

See if I would have just said it sounds like a good idea to run the 1/2 marathon I’d probably not have gotten this far.  I’m now 30 days from the race and up to 6 Miles in under an hour on the treadmill.  My goal was to complete the 13.1 Miles in under 2.5 hours before I started training.  I now think I may get their.

Are you willing to tell the world your dreams, take action to reach your goals and then repeat this process?  This really is the formula for success.  There are lots of talking heads out there telling you what to do…but do they really do what they say they do…ur Tiger Woods!  It’s my philosophy that if you set a goal, write it down and then tell a lot of people about it you will do whatever it legally takes to reach that goal.

I’m sure that most of you have been out fighting your way through the crowds at the mall, grocery store or other retail outlets trying to finish up your Christmas shopping. We’re you paying attention?  Even though shopping annoys me to no end, I make it less painful by watching what retail stores are doing right and what they are doing wrong when it comes to marketing and customer service.  I did have my girlfriend do a big portion of my shopping for me as she’s a dedicated “shop-aholic”, but I couldn’t outsource a few gifts and I couldn’t let her buy her own gift.

Presley and I In Front Of Our Tree

It’s even more clear to me now that 90% of business owners deserve what they are getting right now. The business owners and franchises that WILL be going out of business just after the 1st of the year should have nothing to complain about except their own incompetence.  I compressed most of my shopping into two nights and a trip to Chicago for ONE item.

So here it goes.  When the dust settled I had stimulated the economy with close to $10,000 in total spending and I learned a lot.  While shopping at the mall I had visited a few well know retailers.  You know all of the stores that most local business owners think that they can’t beat.  Gap, Williams-Sonoma, Justice, Yankee Candle, The Buckle, Younkers…just to name a few.

During my struggle it was very obvious that the “art” of selling is no longer needed to get a retail job.  Looks to me like if you have a heart beat and you will work nights and weekends…you’re in!  This at a time when unemployment is 12% and if the government actually calculated it by adding the people who just quite looking it would be closer to 20%.  You know there are alot of former car sales guys looking for jobs, former real estate agents, mortgage brokers, but these Big Dumb Companies obviously have no interest in hiring someone who can actually sell something and continue to hire incompetent staff.

In most stores you were left to your own devices.  No offer to help you find the perfect gift.  No offer of exchanging sizes from a fitting room.  Many stores were so understaffed that they had 50 customers and only 2 or 3 employees.  Merchandise thrown all over the place or no merchandise left on the racks.  Upon finally discovering the gifts that we actually wanted it was a basic nightmare to check out.  One cashier at most stores and 10 or more guests trying to check out.

In retail the majority of their business happens in just 90 days.  Now you’d think that they would put out an all out effort to maximize sales and position themselves for the new year and attempt to retain new customers that were brought in for a holiday gift.  Let’s just talk about two simple strategies that they completely BLEW!  #1 – I was only half heartedly upsold on one occasion.  I bought my sister a high end T-shirt and a gift certificate. The girl actually asked if we needed a cami for underneath.   That was the ONLY occasion that an upsell was offered.  The upsell is about the easiest tactic for retail stores.  The customer is already there, they’ve already decided to pull out their wallet and now all the store needs to do is ask and 3 out of 10 times they’ll actually sell something.  #2 – I was NEVER asked for my Name, Mailing Address, Email, Phone Number, Nothing!  Since this is what I teach, preach and practice…it blows my mind every time I see these BIG DUMB COMPANIES report earnings and come up short. Most aren’t practicing the two easiest business building strategies selling more to existing customers (upselling) and / or selling more often to your existing customers via direct mail, email, telephone calling, etc., etc.

I will actually take joy in some of these companies leaving and making room for the businesses that actually get it.  In my next post you’ll actually hear some good news.

#1 – What can you learn from a Car Wash (really a small local chain of car washes that gets it) #2 – Why Cliff in the liquor department at the grocery store deserves a High Five and an award for selling #3 – 5 Big Mistakes made by a Very Upscale retailer on Michigan Avenue (proving that if you have a product that can be sold with emotion instead of features / benefits you can have some very poor sales skills and still sell)

Merry Christmas,

Darin

I am often told by a business owner that they are an entrepreneur, but most of the time I disagree with their position.  Most business owners, especially those that are struggling financially right now are truly business owners and not entrepreneurs.

So what’s the difference between a business owner and an entrepreneur?

Here’s a quick example of a business owner…Bob owns a jewelry store on a busy intersection or at the mall in your local community.  Bob sells lots of jewelry inside of his store but he doesn’t really expand his business offerings.  Bob might add a second store but essentially Bob still is a business owner with two locations.

Here’s a quick example of an entrepreneur that owns the same jewelry store…Bob has the same location or two locations.  Bob also starts doing private shows at a local upscale restaurant to find prospects for his line of custom jewelry that sells for double or triple the price of his “stock” jewelry.  Bob then creates a list of customers that attended his private events at the local restaurant and invites them to a “Diamond Exploration Trip”. Bob arranges a trip to Antwerp, Belgium where he and the local travel agent craft an experience trip where Bob gets a percentage of the money spent on the trip.  Bob has now created another new revenue stream.  But Bob’s a crazy entrepreneur and part of the trip requires each attendee to find their own diamond that Bob then mounts for them in a necklace, earrings or bracelet.  Bob also creates an online website where his customers can become members to receive additional discounts and coupons.  Bob charges a small fee to become a member but gives back double this fee back as in-store coupons.  Bob also teams up with local charities to do monthly fundraisers at his store.  Where members of the charity spend cash and Bob returns a percentage of that money to each charity.

See the entrepreneur continues to add new revenue streams and other businesses to their existing business.  Most people are really business owners that have just created a job for themselves.  Many entrepreneurs find it difficult not to find opportunities or new ways to create revenues for their companies.  It’s the reason why many of my friends and I that are entrepreneurs have been able to rise above the current economic crisis and have record years.

I’m thankful that I’ve become an entrepreneur and not a business owner.

Happy Thanksgiving!