Scott Ahlsmith, CTC's - Roads Less Traveled

Sleep on This!

Blogs share rewarding practices.  In Seth Godin's "Dial 300 for Harry" blog post he shares a remarkable (Purple) business practice he uncovered while mattress shopping.

The owner of this mattress sales company instructs every employee to call him when something needs fixing (prices, policies, advertising, conduct, anything.)  The owner can be reached from any phone in the 400-store chain by simply dialing extension 300.  Frequently, Harry, the chain's owner, reverses the process and calls the store to ask, "what's up?'"

Random Act of Kindness @34K feet?

This story will warm your heart and restore your faith in human nature.

I flew American Airlines from Miami to Chicago this morning.  While seated in the MIA boarding area, I noticed a properly dressed elderly gentleman wearing his wool ivy cap and silver Christian Orthodox Cross.  He was small in stature, but his neatly trimmed white beard and the sparkle in his eyes made him larger than life. 

He was with an uniformed AA flight attendant.  Their animated conversation was punctuated with smiles.  The gentleman, in his 90's, had enough spirit and energy to fill the entire boarding area.  Everyone noticed him and his attentive AA escort.  It was clear that AA wanted to take special care of this passenger and assigned their top meet-and-greet ambassador to the task.

Just-In-Time Inspiration

Ralph Marston posseses an marvelous talent for sending me an inspirational quote that is exactly appropriate for the day's tasks.  As I prepare today to promote "YOU! the Brand." and achieve my goal of 1,000 branded professional travel sellers before the end of 2006, I receive the following e-mail message from Ralph. 

Your deepest desires are intensely personal. And yet the best way to express and fulfill them is by bringing their value to as many other people as possible.

Ralph Marston--Copyright (C) 2006 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All rights reserved.

Visit The Daily Motivator web site at  for an archive of more than 2,500 daily messages, inspirational photos and more.

Thank you, Ralph!  It's an honor to be plugged into your universal flow of thoughts and ideas.

Product Launching 101

Good blogs are personal.  They're instructive.  They're entertaining. They're edgy.  But, most of all they're real.  They offer a glimpse behind the curtain. 

Good blogs answer whether the Emperor wears clothes or does not.  They might even go as far as expose whether the Emperor wears boxers or briefs or whether he's a cross-dresser.  Good blogs help each of us shape our lives by exposing both readers and authors to new thoughts.  Blogs are a two-way street.  It is difficult to say that a Blog benefits readers more than authors or authors more than readers.

 

Certification Without Competency Testing is Worthless

My  Iowa farm boy education taught me; a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Similarly, consumers’ opinions of travel professionals are only as good as their most recent transaction. Travel Professionals are links in the retail travel distribution chain and the weakest link decides the overall strength of the chain.

Grab a 2 X 4 and Just Start Swinging

At this time, four weeks ago, it seemed like a good idea.  It was like agreeing to appear on the O'Reilly Factor.  This opportunity had the potential to accomplish another personal goal and expand my comfort-zone.  And, like appearing on O'Reilly, the lead time before the event acted as a mind-numbing, common-sense draining narcotic. 

"It won't be that bad.  You'll look back on this as one of life's most excellent adventures.  What's the worst that could happen?  You have plenty of time to prepare.  This will make good blog and podcast content.  You always manage to pull it all together in the final minutes.  They put their pants on the same way you do; one leg at a time."

If I can do one thing, I can rationalize.

In the Company of a Legend

Last night a fortunate group of travel professionals and aspiring travel & tourism students enjoyed a memorable evening with Evelyn Echols.  The evening was created and crafted by Joanne Giampa, CTIE, the head of College of DuPage's Travel & Tourism Department, to honor Chicago-area women with 10 or more years of travel industry service.   

Evelyn signed her book, Saying Yes to Life and delivered the evening's keynote speech.  Her inspirational comments shattered any doubts any audience member had about their ability to conquer life's challenges.