MAKE YOUR BIZ GO ZOOM: Power Of The Harley Attitude

ABOUT PHOTO: Jim Jackson first roared onto the stage Wednesday morning with a video clip of actor John Travolta on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle in the movie "Wild Hogs." (Photo by Ron Rennells)

2011 INTERNATIONAL LCT SHOW KEYNOTE 2: Motivational speaker Jim Jackson teaches how to harness the power of the Harley.

LAS VEGAS — The Harley Attitude is defined as going as hard as you can, with all you can, as far as you can. It’s about walking with confidence and playing to win. Jim Jackson covers three areas where you can live, work, and be the Harley attitude.

Here are some highlights from his Wednesday keynote address:

DO NOT FEAR CHANGE, EMBRACE IT

• When fear gets in the way, you play not to lose instead of playing to win. In football, a team who is afraid to lose goes into what is called a prevent defense. Usually what happens is the other side scores every time.

• When you get stuck in fear, you end up waiting for the opportunity bus to come pick you up, but it will never come; the reality to understand is that YOU are the bus.

• Successful companies such as Starbucks, Apple, and Ford all had their ups and downs, but they thrived by re-inventing themselves. They all played to win and did not rest on their past achievements.

• The sooner you understand that things will never go back to the way they were, the sooner you will become a leader.

• Be proactive, not reactive.

• Do not get used to being mediocre or doing things the wrong way.

• Work with what you have and never ever bail out.

• Deal with change by deciding how you want to live.

• Ask yourself what you need to do TODAY to get different results.

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH GREAT PEOPLE

• Have the mindset to hire the best in class; do not compromise.

• Hire people that have the same values as you, because you can cultivate skill but you cannot change a person’s values.

• Find out what your employees are working for; do their paychecks go to supporting a family, paying for college, getting out of debt? Take a personal approach when motivating them.

• Give confidence to your people and demand the best.

• Train, train, train everyone in great customer service; great athletes train every day.

• Word-of-mouth is EVERYTHING in this business, and great first impressions are priceless.

• Ask yourself: Would I hire this person again? If the answer is no, then get rid of them.

BEFORE YOU CAN COACH OTHERS, YOU MUST FIRST COACH YOURSELF

• Learn to control and change your self-talk (your mental voice).

• We move towards what we think about.

• Thoughts are like heat-seeking missiles; keep them focused and they will make the necessary adjustments to find the target, no matter how much it tries to evade.

• Our heat-seeking missiles do not determine what the target is, they only follow it. It is up to YOU to decide what your target is, so make it positive.

• The key is to focus on what we want, not what we do not want. If you tell someone, “Hey, don’t touch your face,” what will they do? If you tell a child, “Johnny, don’t spill your juice,” what’s usually the result?

• You are exactly what you believe right now.

• Coach yourself forward.

• Keep it simple: Put the red dot on the target, and squeeze the trigger.

Jim Jackson’s keynote also included some very valuable social media and in-bound marketing tips which will be presented in the April 2011 issue of LCT, along with more detailed and in-depth explanations of the advice presented above.

JIM JACKSON LIMO WEBSITE

[LOOK FOR MORE COVERAGE IN THE APRIL 2011 ISSUE OF LCT MAGAZINE]

— Michael Campos, LCT assistant editor