John Assaraf : Reinventing the Entrepreneur

24 Responses to “The Simple Truths of Service”

1. laura52 Posted: Oct 3rd, 2007 at 1:09 pm

   1 John I received this yesterday in my newsletter and loved the story that went with it of the Cab driver as well. Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment. This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean! As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, “Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.” My friend said jokingly, “No, I’d prefer a soft drink.” Wally smiled and said, “No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.” Almost stuttering, Harvey said, “I’ll take a Diet Coke.” Handing him his drink, Wally said, “If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.” As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card. “These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.” And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts. “Tell me, Wally,” my amazed friend asked the driver, “have you always served customers like this?” Wally smiled into the rearview mirror. “No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You’ll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.’” “That hit me right between the eyes,” said Wally. “Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.” “I take it that has paid off for you,” Harvey said. “It sure has,” Wally replied. “My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.” Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting. Johnny the Bagger and Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. They decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles. How about you? I shared this with many people too. Laura

2. Graeme Posted: Oct 3rd, 2007 at 1:50 pm

   2 A commitment to serve others will, in itself, lead to a life of fulfillment for the giver. Graeme

3. Spiro Posted: Oct 3rd, 2007 at 2:27 pm

   3 great post! we truly are in a great era to make little differences in the world, thanks john

4. Carolyn Wratislav Posted: Oct 3rd, 2007 at 2:32 pm

   4 Wonderful!! I visited the site and ordered the movie pack to use in our service training. Keep ‘em coming!

5. Isaura Mashiko Posted: Oct 3rd, 2007 at 2:34 pm

   5 Very lovely film. I learn first from you John, is just what you always predicate in your teachings. Thank you, once and once more times. I am learning a lot from you. You make me happy and move me every day to be better and effort more. God bless you!

6. JoMarie Posted: Oct 3rd, 2007 at 2:35 pm

   6 A great example of someone taking pride in what they do and doing to the best of their ability. No only providing a “service” but personalized service and pride in what they do. thank you for sharing this reminder that each day we can all “provide” our life with impecable service to ourselves and others.

7. JoMarie Posted: Oct 3rd, 2007 at 2:36 pm

   7 A great example of someone taking pride in what they do and doing to the best of their ability. Not only providing a “service” but personalized service and pride in what they do. thank you for sharing this reminder that each day we can all “provide” our life with impecable service to ourselves and others.

8. David Rosenthal Posted: Oct 3rd, 2007 at 3:21 pm

   8 I was absolutely touched by Johnny as well as Wally. I am a new business owner and its amazing at how something so simple can make such a difference in peoples lives and seperate them from the herd. I will be implementing my ideas ASAP. Thank you for inspiring me today.

9. VPSean Posted: Oct 3rd, 2007 at 3:50 pm

   9 Wow! That was really nice John. It had me completely teared up. Thanks for sharing!

10. Debbie Posted: Oct 3rd, 2007 at 4:00 pm

    10 I still have the lump in my throat…thank you so much….. it feels so good to give back for sure a story of mine: I shop in a grocer near one of my accounts, one day I was in there in the pay line up and there was a young good looking man in front of me counting out change for his purchase and he was short the teller said, I offered to pay for him, she declined as she wanted him to learn to count etc…because he in fact worked part time in the shop…he was autistic……. she said he is a little slow with some things, but other things in fact is a genius with other things…she said he is a huge Flames hockey fan and in fact knows everything about hockey…WELL one of my dearest friends is part of the management of the Flames..so I called her and asked if I could get tickets to a hockey game for him and a friend…. she said of course…. so I went back to the store the next day, found ‘Kyle’- the young man…and told him about the game coming up…he was so excited, he told me that he had only been to one game in his life!!!..THe staff was astounded that I had done this, as I didn’t know him…..I said it was my pleasure and in fact I was just the courier for them….I almost cried in the store…he ran around he was so excited and ran to found out who the game was with…. my point, it was so much better for me to give him the tickets than I am sure it was for him…… I didn’t want him to know about me, I just wanted to pay the love forward……what a great world it will be when we all do that.. thankyou for letting me share..:)

11. manymes Posted: Oct 3rd, 2007 at 4:58 pm

    11 John, That movie is one of my favorites. it is truly a gift to be able to receive inspiring messages from yourself, and many others who were in “The Secret” Thank you so very much for the thoughts that you put back out there for all of us.

12. Jeanette Posted: Oct 3rd, 2007 at 7:13 pm

    12 Thank-you, John, for sharing that wonderful story as I am in the process of making some profound changes at the elementary school where I have worked as a school nurse for the last 20 years. It is located in a very low-income area of south Tucson and I truly do love my job and feel so blessed to be able to help and be of service to so many and actually get paid for it! I experience the joy of giving on a daily basis and know how important it is in keeping me balanced and in a state of constant gratification. Over the years I have seen a trend in many of the families that I work with that was concerning me. Many, I found, were so self-absorbed in their problems that they often came to expect (and even demand) help and assistance from others. Over time, I have also witnessed the early burn-out of wonderful teachers and other school staff due to the increasing demands of higher test scores and an increasingly egocentric population who were draining the energy right out of them. At times I also felt frustrated and overwhelmed, especially when there are 600 or more children and 50+ staff to be accountable and available to at any given point in time. It often felt like I was simply “band-aiding” situations rather than dealing with the core issues that created them as well as putting out fires for much of my day. I saw that this was going to be a very long school year if I didn’t make some major fundamental changes in the way we were dealing with our students and families. I realized that many were so physically and emotionally needy because they were unhappy or felt unfulfilled for one reason or another. They would often seek to “fill up their well” with the energy and attention of others in an effort to feel good about themselves. So, I started to study the subject of happiness as I was hearing more about this topic on talk shows and in spiritual discussions. Not to mention, who doesn’t feel like they wouldn’t mind feeling a little happier at times?! In all of my research, there was one commonality that kept coming up in people who were considered to be extremely happy based on certain criteria. The attribute they had in common was that they all either did volunteer work or in some way gave of themselves to others. I knew how helping others greatly affected my happiness and then began to realize that ever since I was young, Thank-you, John, for sharing that story as I am in the process of making some profound changes at the elementary school nwhere I work as a school nurse. I’ve been working in a very low-income area of south Tucson for 20 years now, and I truly do love my job and feel so blessed to be able to help so many others and actually get paid for it! I experience the joy of giving on a daily basis and know how important it is in keeping me balanced and in a state of constant gratification. Over the years, I have seen a trend in many of the families that I work with that concerned me. Many, I found, were so self-absorbed in their problems that they came to expect(and even demand) help and assistance from others. Over time, I have also witnessed the early burn-out of wonderful teachers and other school staff due to the increasing demands of higher test scores and an increasingly egocentric population who were draining the energy right out of them. At times I also felt frustrated and overwhelmed, especially when you have 600 or more children and 50+ staff to be accountable to! It often felt like I was simply “band-aiding” situations (rather than dealing with the core issues that created them) and putting out fires for much of my day. I saw that this was going to be a very long school year if I didn’t make some major fundamental changes in the way we were dealing with our families. So, I realized that many were so physically and emotionally needy because they were unhappy or felt unfulfilled for one reason or another. So, I started to study the subject of happiness as I was hearing more about this topic on talk shows and spiritual discussions. Not to mention, who doesn’t feel like they wouldn’t mind feeling a little happier at times?! In all of my research, there was one commonality that kept coming up in people who were considered to be extremely happy based on certain criteria. The attribute they had in common was that they all either did volunteer work or in some way gave of themselves to others. I knew how helping others greatly affected my happiness and then began to realize that ever since I was young, giving has always been a big part of my life. In middle school I was the president of our “Kids Who Care” club and we raised money for all sorts of needs and all felt really great inside by doing it. In my 20 years, I have only heard of a few (if any) such philanthropic groups geared towards children. I began realizing that many of our students and families had never really experienced the joy of giving of themselves; all too often it was only of receiving. What I decided to do was to assign a student in each classroom (30 in all) to act as a “student nurse” for their own class and I would teach them all the basics of first aid that they would need to learn to take care of the minor events. Rather than assigning that position to a responsible child who was independent and “happy”, I decided to choose the student who often would come to me with every complaint in the book (and I’ve heard them all!) seeking my energy and attention. I presented this to some of my “frequent flyers” and they all leaped at the chance of helping the nurse and were so excited to be a helper in their classroom as well as help our overworked campus monitor during lunch recess for simple cuts and scrapes. I introduced the idea to the staff and they agreed to support my plan. This will also free me up of time so that I can do more prevention screenings and educational programs in the classroom. The program is starting this program up next week and I’ extremely excited about the possibilities such an idea could bring! Rather than being internally driven and motivated, I am hoping the children will learn to become more externally thoughtful, which has no choice but to positively impact their experience and sense of being!

13. Olivier Leca (Effortless Creator) Posted: Oct 3rd, 2007 at 11:01 pm

    13 Hi, John Thank you so much.I’ve heard that story before but the trailer version is quite powerful.I find it so inspiring that I posted it on my own blog (http://everythingaboutthesecretsgrprogram.blogspot.com) to share it. I’m on my way to convince our company to include this book and DVD in our X-mas package.

14. Nooshin Posted: Oct 4th, 2007 at 2:59 am

    14 Thank you John for sendig very lovely film,I’m sure it helps me very much in the future.

15. rbaghban Posted: Oct 4th, 2007 at 7:25 am

    15 Oh my god,it had me completely teared up. i will never forget Great service comes from the heart. Dear John, I am from Iran and one of your milion fans in my country. best. Yaash

16. leslie Posted: Oct 4th, 2007 at 7:37 am

    16 just wanted to say, i really appreciate all the wonderful positive news which you send out so frequently.many many thanks.

17. Karen Posted: Oct 4th, 2007 at 9:44 am

    17 That warms my heart and inspires me to be more conscious of what I can do to make someone else’s day memorable.

18. Karin Hiebert Posted: Oct 4th, 2007 at 9:51 am

    18 What can I say, as always a valuable and moving post! If you start recieving an avolanche of new folks here…it is because when I find good news to spread, I do! Love your work, your giving and your sharing! As always, your friend Karin Hiebert

19. Jewel Posted: Oct 4th, 2007 at 9:58 am

    19 I was moved, touched and inspired by Johnny’s story. It is evident that we are all connected on many levels. . .many imperceptible. We have only to look in our hearts and bring forth our tremendous capacity to make a difference. And when we make a difference for others, we make a difference for the world and for ourself. Thanks for bringing this into the light for many to see. Jewel

20. Tammy Olson Posted: Oct 4th, 2007 at 1:25 pm

    20 Awesome! So inspiring. Johnny gives me so much to think about. I intend to be just like Johnny, starting today!

21. Kimm Posted: Oct 4th, 2007 at 1:44 pm

    21 Always a good reminder. I’ve passed it on.

22. Ram Posted: Oct 4th, 2007 at 5:35 pm

    22 Your thoughts are your commands. Think always positive and has a wonderful attitud sending it to the world. I really admire you Johm

23. Ram Posted: Oct 4th, 2007 at 5:37 pm

    23 Your thoughts are your commands. Think always positive and have a wonderful attitud sending it to the world. I really admire you John

24. Gerald Posted: Dec 2nd, 2007 at 4:55 am

    24 Just to say thank u a million times for motivating us becouse most people lack such kind of infomation from those around them,thank you again.