The best piece of advice I ever received was to never take advice from someone who hadn’t done or succeeded at what they were advising you about.
People can’t take you where they haven’t been themselves. So, if you want to be a millionaire, only take advice from a millionaire. If you want to be a top salesman, learn from the top salesmen. If you want to raise a child, have a successful marriage, tell a story, sing a song, or communicate effectively with thousands of people then find someone who has, or is succeeding at just that very thing.
I’m a connector. I have a knack for bringing people together who when they are together accomplish things in exponential fashion. It’s a gift of mine and I share it with you whenever possible. If you’ve ever petted a dog, sung a song, taken a risk or a photograph, loved another person or a child, traveled, told a story or succeeded or failed at any of these things, you and I also have something in common. We’re human.
I’ve made and lost millions. I’ve started out and started over. In my mid-twenties, I started my professional life as both a photographer and journalist. I won some wonderful national awards. Not too long after that I decided to make my first major career change. At an age when most people are starting their first career, I was starting my second. I switched from journalism and photography, to sales and marketing. I won a boatload of awards and earned more money in a few short years than most people do in a lifetime.
I lived the American dream, becoming semi-retired by the age of 45. Over the next 5 years, I slid down the up staircase. I proceeded to give away money, lose money, and even have all my money stolen from me. At the age of 50, I started all over again from scratch and found, to my relief, that once you know the way to the top you don’t forget too many of the turns and twists it takes to get there. And now at the age of 62, I consider my life richer and fuller than it has ever been because I’ve never stopped learning, creating, and, most importantly, listening to the people in my life.
In my 62 years on this blue and green orb, I’ve spent time with the famous, the infamous, and all the rest of us. And, while I don’t name drop for the sake of name-dropping I am willing to share with you the perspectives of all of these, plus my own sometimes objective and sometimes opinionated viewpoints.
I promise I won’t bore you, and I promise I will give it my all in my posts here. I won’t always succeed at either but I know that failure is part of life and if I’m not failing (or if you’re not failing) we’re not really alive.
So if you want advice about marketing, sales, and people connection, I bring success, experience and insight in all those areas to the table. If you want opinions, magic tricks, stories and song, you’re also in luck.
Magic tricks and songs aside, there are a lot of reasons why we should connect if you’re serious about succeeding. So let’s do it. And, if after reading all this you’re still not convinced, there’s a great video on the about page where some of my friends answer the question, “Who is Bob Poole?”
Playing Devils Advocate Bob, who does Tiger Woods go to for golfing advice? His coach hasn’t even won one major. And Usain Bolts trainer has never won an Olympic gold medal for the 100m.
And what about the bald hairdresser, or the terminally ill doctor, or the therapist that’s a bit buts, and I’ve met a few of those? 😉
I largely agree as you know, I’m just too pumped and feisty looking forward to a Rams victory this afternoon.
While sports metaphors run rampant throughout the world of sales (hit it out of the park for example), I believe that any great sports coach need not have the ability to hit the home run themselves but they must have the ability to teach someone how to do it. As you know, one of my good friends is Lou Holtz. Lou was a bench warmer and walk-on through high school and college but he became a master of the sport with the wins and honors to prove it. If you want to become a master at something (whether that’s painting a landscape, singing an aria, or selling, the quickest and most successful way is to study with the masters. The coaches who Lou chose to study are a who’s who of the football coaching world.
And, speaking of football, while I always pull for your Rams, they have as much of a chance of winning today as do the Colts. 🙂
That’s fighting talk Poole!
Wow, who’d have thought we’d be making jokes about the Colts? How the mighty have fallen.
Isn’t that the truth! Good reason to enjoy your moment in the sun when it comes to professional sports because one way or the other, the sun will go down. Good luck to the Rams.