Glenn Shepard’s Personal Blog

You all know how I feel about the UAW walking out on GM over more benefits last week. On Friday, radio talk show host Neal Boortz was going off on them and said something that sounded oh so familiar… “It’s not your job! You don’t own it; GM does. The way you get job security is not by walking off the job and asking for more. It’s by making yourself so indispensable to your company that they can’t live without you”. That sounds so familiar because the title of my third book was How to Be the Employee Your Company Can’t Live Without: 18 Ways to Become Indispensable.

Last year when I was making the rounds signing copies of that book (at 54 Barnes & Noble stores in 19 states, in between seminars. Please just shoot me if I ever try that again), I kept running into Neal, who was on tour promoting his latest book, The Fair Tax Book: Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS. I wonder if he read mine somewhere along the way. Regardless, a copy is going out to him today. If you’re a Boortz fan and are able to listen to him regularly, please let my staff know if he mentions it on the air.

Last week one of my Priority Club members who owns a small business told me a promoter promised her 25 tickets to the Hannah Montana concert, which she intended to give to her employees. (If you don’t know who Hannah is, you obviously don’t have a young daughter. She’s the TV incarnation of Billy Ray Cyrus’s real life daughter, and is the hottest act on tour right now.) But he only came through with 8 tickets. So the business owner gave her tickets to one of her employees, even though she has a young daughter of her own. Hmmmmm. What would you have done?

Have you seen the excerpts from the debate at Dartmouth Wednesday night? Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards, who had been calling for us to pull out of Iraq quickly, now won’t commit to getting out of Iraq before 2012 if any of them are elected.  So why the about face? Because when they were just politicians, they said whatever people wanted to hear. But now that each is considering the possibility of actually becoming President, they realize that they’ll have to do what managers have to do – be willing to be unpopular.

As much as we’d all like to get out of Iraq, it’s just not that simple. What most people don’t think about is what would happen if we pulled out today, and whether the situation would be worse.  Nobody will ever know what the right thing was, and will be, to do about Iraq. But  we do know two things.

First, on 9/11/01, over 3000 innocent people died. And second, no matter what the President did, everyone was sure to play Monday Morning Quarterback when things didn’t go the way we wanted. It’s easy to second guess the decisions of whoever has the power, but few actually want the responsibility of making such difficult decisions. Remember that many blame President Clinton for not doing something about Osama Bin Laden when he had the chance. He was quite upset last year when a movie pinned part of the blame for 9/11 on his lack of action.

So we have one President who’s being blamed for not doing enough, and another who’s being blamed for going too far. Remember this the next time you have to make an unpopular management decision. It suuuuuuuuuuuuuuure is lonely at the top, isn’t it? At least you’ll know the Glennster is sitting there right beside you in spirit.

If you happen to live in, or are willing to move to Charleston, here’s an incredible opportunity for the right person. My colleagues Lou Castillo and Josh Brown just opened a new office there, and are looking for a sales manager to oversee an inside sales team in the real estate investment, wealth building, and information marketing industry. You’ll need solid experience in sales and sales management. If you fit the bill, this could be an incredible opportunity for you. You can contact Lou at lou@investorriches.com and put “Per Glenn Shepard” in the subject line. Oh, and if you get the postion, you owe me a seafood dinner the next time I’m there. As will Josh and Lou

Turn on your speakers and click on this link

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/223/popup/index.php?cl=3989643

Last Monday I opened USA Today to see Alan Greenspan’s face on the cover of the Money section not once, but twice. Mr. Greenspan, the retired Chairman of the Federal Reserve, was the most powerful man in the world for years. Even in retirement, he remains one of the most influential. He currently earns over $100,000 per speech, and averages about one speech per week.

One of the articles in USA Today was about his new book, “The Age of Turbulence”. I was in Pennsylvania when I read about it, and told Rebecca to order me a copy when I talked to her on my cellphone. But she informed me that would not be necessary, because a VIP copy of it had just arrived by FedEx, courtesy of Mr. Greenspan’s publicist. Seems that Mr. Greenspan or somebody in his camp is a fan of Work Is Not for Sissies, which means I have to say two things.

First, Yeeeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaa! This is even better than the time the real life Kramer gave me a box of Junior Mints when I was in New York a few years ago (only Seinfeld fans will get that).

Second, you’re known by the company you keep. No, I’m not referring to me. I’m referring to YOU. And YOU are reading what very smart people are reading, which means YOU are one smart cookie !!!

Today the UAW (United Auto Workers labor union) went on strike against General Motors because they want more benefits, mainly more health insurance benefits for their retirees. Meanwhile, GM is struggling just to survive, while Toyota has become the world’s dominate automobile manufacturer. “Gimme, gimme, gimme”. Talk about stupid tax – this takes the cake.

Friday night while driving between Cincinnati and Louisville, I talked to my friend John Abbot in Georgia and discovered something even more unique about Ebay. I recently bought a software program called Pop Over Generator from its publisher for $97. This is the program that generates the pop ups advertising upcoming teleseminars on my WebPages. (Yes, I know you hate them, but we use them for a reason – they make money!) John informed me that I could buy the same program on Ebay for $3. But when I looked today, I discovered that it’s actually selling for 97 CENTS! It’s completely legal and ethical. Internet marketers buy lifetime licenses to resell the software at whatever price they choose, usually just to acquire customers to sell higher end products to in the future. SO, before you buy software, check Ebay first. That is, assuming that you don’t mind getting a 99% discount.

Though I’ve bought several things on Ebay, I’ve only sold one thing – an old microphone – and that was three years ago. Since I use the example of a dead fly that sold on Ebay in my customer service speech, I thought I should sell something again to stay up to date. I auctioned a “broken” Tuscany wall clock that looks good but doesn’t work. It only brought $1.75, and I added on $8 for shipping. Problem is that it ended up costing $30 to ship. Note to self: Check the actual shipping cost before auctioning anything else.

It’s funny how some people have a skill they don’t even realize is a skill. Yesterday a woman who attended my seminar in Columbus mentioned in passing that she loves spreadsheets, but her boss hates them. So when she needs to communicate figures to him, she calls them “charts” and prints them in color, which he understands. She didn’t even realize how impressive that was, but being able to speak in ways that people comprehend is a huge advantage for managers. No coincident, you’ll see her photo in an upcoming issue of Work is Not for Sissies.