Francine Beleyi’s Monday Thought: Be Creative With Your Gift This Christmas Season!

 

How to offer an original christmas gift without spending money? (photo credits: freedigitalphotos)

This is my last Monday’s thought for the year 2011, so what best to talk about than the upcoming festive season? Well, festive is not always what this period seems to be about as the level of stress for some people seems to peak around Christmas because of some self-imposed reasons or for other expectations one is supposed to fulfil.

Let’s talk about the gifts! This year has been tough for many people who have to live on a tight budget. The temptation to get into debts for Christmas spending and hopefully be able to pay those debts next year in 2012 is big.

If you haven’t sorted out your ‘to give’ list yet, you can be creative and offer your time rather than money that you don’t have. What do I mean? Well you can offer for example 5 or 10 hours of your time in teaching some of the skills you possess. Are you passionate about singing, playing guitar, tennis, creative writing, painting, jewellery crafting or cooking?

Propose to your friends and family an initiation in something that will be useful to them. Are they struggling with their CV, business plan or internet skills? Offer to brainstorm or teach them what they need to know. Offering your skills instead of the latest Ipad2 that you can’t afford is more personal and valuable and your friends and family will possess these skills for the rest of their life.

Here is my gift to you for the festive season. Enjoy!

http://lesprofiteroles.weebly.com/free-ebook.html

Happy festive seasons and happy New Year 2012.

Best wishes

Ps: What are some of the skills you can offer as a gift to your loved ones? I would love to hear about them

Francine Beleyi’s Monday Thought: Are Coins Not Money?

 

Grant Cochrane @ freedigitalphoto

I popped into a Kebab restaurant in Paris suburb Vitry-sur-Seine last week with a friend. I must admit the Kebab was nice and we were served large portions of grilled meat, fries and salad. We decided to eat in rather than take away so that we have some time to discuss. We were about to finish our dinner when we overheard the boss and a young man having an argument. Trying to figure out what the matter was we started to pay attention to the conversation as the boss did appear friendly to us.

The shop owner was furious because the guy brought only coins of 10 and 5 cents in a small plastic bag for a total of 4,5 € to buy a sandwich. He was upset that the customer didn’t ask him before if he could buy with these coins. The guy said he didn’t know this would be a problem and assure that next time this wouldn’t happen. The kebab man didn’t want to hear anything and took the money from the man and asked him to go and find ‘real’ money. The situation was getting hotter after almost 20 minutes of argument when my friend handed a 5 € note to the merchant in exchange of the coins so that the young man visibly hungry could have his sandwich.

I was amazed at my friend’s attitude and mediation. It was a win-win-win: the young man left with his sandwich, the shop owner got his money in the form he wanted it and my friend…well she found herself with a small bag filled with coins but happy to have been able to solve a situation that could have become nasty.  

I thought the behavior of the shop owner was outrageous: why is it a problem to accept the coins when there is exactly the right amount for what the customer is paying?   Which kind of customer service is this in an era where it’s becoming a real business differentiator?

Perhaps you think the shop owner was right to refuse the coins? Should the young man have asked permission to pay with the coins? Was the mediation of my friend something you would have done?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Have a very productive and positive week.

Warmest

Francine

For more information visit www.nucleusofchange.com

Francine Beleyi’s (Late) Monday Thought: Prepare for Impact

 

Miss France 2012 @TF1.fr

I was invited by a friend last Saturday during my visit in Paris to join her and another friend to watch Miss France  election. We’ve ordered pizzas from the local restaurant for home delivery to eat whilst we sat comfortably for the evening.  As you could imagine the 16 finalists were glamorous as they turn up in beautiful long dresses, in a one piece swimming suit and in hot bikinis. Selecting the winner from these French beauties appeared to be a very difficult task until the interview session with the candidates.

The classical request to introduce themselves to the public proved to be something to get rid of as quickly as possible instead of a powerful communication weapon. There wasn’t much to grab the viewers’ attention until Miss Alsace arrived. She talked about herself, her engagement with a charity she is passionate about and why, and how proud she was to represent her region. Her pitch was the most captivating as she took the time to present interesting aspects of herself despite her obvious nervousness. Surely this impactful presentation did play a key role in being elected Miss France in addition to her natural beauty.

Where am I getting at? The question for the candidates to Miss France is an obvious one but it was surprising to see that not much thought has been given by the candidates to use it strategically to get an advantage. It was as if that question popped out of the blue.

In our business, our job or our life there are answers to some questions that could make or break our dreams. So which are those questions and how prepared are you to make an impactful presentation that will separate you from the crowd?

Have a very productive and positive week.

Warmest

Francine

 For more information visit www.nucleusofchange.com

Francine Beleyi’s Monday Thought: When It’s Time To Let Go!

Danilo Rizzuti @ freedigitalphotos.net

For the past few years I’ve been involved in various projects with varying level of satisfaction, commitment, and success. Although all these projects were exciting I find somehow that they were unrelated and some of them even distracting until I realised with amazement how well linked these projects were. I admit it took me some time to reach this level of awareness and understanding. Two most important acknowledgments were the necessity to undertake this journey but also to know when the time has come to back off and let go.

I realized how these experiences were perfectly orchestrated and the parts of a big and amazing puzzle. Suddenly I have gained a renewed boost of energy and the momentum to build the masterpiece! Life is only full of contradictions when we don’t know how to tune into what at which time! Sometimes we don’t need any strategic thinking to find the solution because it’s lying right in front of us. Taking the time to relax and let go can produce the most amazing revelation.

What is it you are frustrated about and don’t seem to find a suitable solution for? What is it that the more you think about it, the less you know what to do about it?  Take some time to meditate (not to think) and let go. The answer that has always been there but you seem too busy to find will eventually pop in the forefront of your awareness.

If you have stories to share I would love to hear them.

Have a very productive and positive week.

Warmest

Francine

For more information visit www.nucleusofchange.com

Learn to Ask Better Questions

freedigitalphotos @ renjith krishnan

I went in a shop last friday to buy some DVD R for a digital product I have just created. A shop assistant who surely wanted to help came to me and asked if I wanted DVD–R or DVD+R. I looked at her puzzled as if she was speaking a foreign language to me. She went on to explain there was a difference between those 2 types and some machines would burn on the DVD–R and others on DVD+R but couldn’t give me satisfying extra information.

Hold on! I’ve been burning CDs and DVDs since 1995 with different brand of computers and have never made any difference about the type or disk I was using except the quality and here I was suddenly faced with this question. What made it an even more difficult choice was that this time, the burnt DVD would be sold and I needed to ensure the highest compatibility with DVD players.

Well this is not a topic on technology but I would like to highlight that I froze in my decision of buying because of the question I have been asked. If she had shut up I would have picked a pack and left the shop. Now here I was thinking deeply, evaluating, weighting my decision and finally left without buying anything. I went on to google the whole thing and made an informed decision to purchase on Amazon… and cheaper than in that shop.   

So what kind of unnecessary questions do you ask that generate objection, confusion and doubt in the mind of your prospect, your boss, your spouse or any other person ? Think carefully about those questions and if you need to ask them be prepared to provide full information that will help make an informed decision.

Have a very productive and positive week.

Warmest

Francine

For more information visit www.nucleusofchange.com

Francine Beleyi’s Monday Thought: The Naked Truth

Freedigitalphotos @ Danilo Rizzuti

Imagine yourself going to the airport. You arrive at the checking desk with no prior flight booking, no money to pay for the flight and no passport but tell the checkers that you are looking to fly to Barbados to enjoy a nice one-week holiday. What will happen?

I have come to realised that there are many people who genuinely want to succeed in business or in life in general but aren’t willing to pay the price to get there or perhaps aren’t aware there is a price to pay. This means they don’t do the ground work necessary to get to where they want to go.

Someone I have known for a few years simply told me that he was giving up trying to make things work in his life. He is overwhelmed by the amount of work needed to succeed in his endeavour. The naked truth is that, unfortunately, there is no short cut to any success. There are however three key factors that when observed sooner or later get us there:

1. Having the right mindset or attitude to do whatever it takes to succeed
2. Having the skillset needed to accomplish our desire or asking for help
3. A tremendous amount of elbow oil

Have a very productive and positive week.

Warmest

Francine

For more information visit www.nucleusofchange.com

Francine Beleyi’s Monday Thought: How To Ask ?

freedigitalphotos @ simon howden

 

I was helping a friend who was speaking at a conference two weeks ago. At the end of her presentation my friend offered a programme to people interested to continue their learning with her. A lady came towards me explaining how she would love to join the programme but was unable to afford the investment needed by giving me a string of reasons why she didn’t have the money required to join that business programme. I listened to her with attention and asked what she would be able to afford. I was trying to help but she didn’t want to say how much she would be able to commit to yet she wanted me to tell her what we can do for her.

This person wanted some help but was unclear about what exactly she wanted to negotiate. In the end she left with nothing.

My perspective:

1. When looking to negotiate we need to be clear about the results we want to get
2. We also need to think about what we might give in exchange of what we are asking for.
3. Ask with conviction that we will receive it; being hesitant send a signal to the other person we don’t know what we are doing and they are unlikely to give us what we want

Have a very productive and positive week.

Warmest

Francine

For more information visit www.nucleusofchange.com