with Draeger okay so we are alive I am
talking with Mark Draeger he is the
founder of fanta media and we are
talking today about his one word so I
believe that every entrepreneur should
find the one word that defines who they
are and bring that to the business and
it’s something I preach I do it on stage
you do it my videos and Mark has been a
member of my master my group for I don’t
know how many years and he actually came
to me before I went on my whole one word
crusade and told me that he was trying
to live extraordinary life and that was
his word and so I said Mark you gotta
tell me how you found your word and we
should make this a google plus hanger so
mark is in where are you mark are you in
florida right now i am i am in florida
it so it’s actually the first rainy day
in about two weeks normally 85 and sunny
alright well it’s pretty rainy here in
Toronto suit so it’s raining everywhere
um okay so before we dive in why don’t
we just tell everybody about what you do
thanx media so they kind of have a basis
point sure I mean essentially we’re a
video production firm that helps
businesses market and communicate and
train through video so quite simply I
started the company out as a single
person I did everything I did the
shooting I did the selling I did the
editing I did delivery and over the last
seven and a half years we’ve been able
to grow to a 10-person team very cool
and so extraordinary extraordinary is
mark mark draeger’s word how did you
come up with it well it’s funny though
because so maybe it’s a bit different
because because as you mentioned we kind
of reverse engineered this word to
certain degree so I found for many years
I was doing everything myself and I hit
a certain point in the business about
three maybe three and a half years ago
where I was no longer doing the
day-to-day and I had hired people to
take care of more more of the billables
and the tasks and and so I used to get
my kicks off of getting stuff completed
because if I got a completed meant that
I was generating money and then I found
myself at a point in the business where
I wasn’t doing billable tasks anymore I
had other people doing it and and and I
it was an achieve
but at the same time I felt a little bit
lost you know I felt like I wasn’t
contributing as much as I had or I felt
like like maybe I was actually draining
revenue and profit out of the business
because I wasn’t doing billable hours
and so I spent like six months not off
your call but I spent six months kind of
really confused as to what my place in
the business was and finally I got so
frustrated a feeling like I wasn’t
contributing like I didn’t have any
control anymore and I thought what you
know what is this and you and I happen
to be partnered that month which is
which is actually rare because you don’t
normally don’t normally partner up with
us but I remember thinking that I I just
what I was doing in terms of so I’m a
father I’m a Christian I’m a husband I’m
a business owner I didn’t want to be
ordinary and that’s really what it was I
didn’t want someone to look at me and
it’s it’s selfish it’s ego I know it’s
all of those things but I didn’t want
someone to look at me and go you know
there’s an ordinary guy I wanted to be
extraordinary or extraordinary and I
members emember kind of confessing this
to you on the phone and I remember you
saying wow that’s really cool and you
got a bit of a kick out of it and and
then and then we didn’t talk about it
for like tuna for three years haha so
that’s I mean that’s ultimately how I
arrived at at the word and this was as
you mentioned you know two or three
years before you really started to lead
this this this revolution of having your
one word and it was you who brought it
back to me and said listen you know two
or three years ago you confess to me you
want to be extraordinary and and to a
certain degree i think I I was living
that but I wasn’t I wasn’t sharing that
with anyone it was my private thing to
myself I don’t even think I mentioned it
to my wife and and then in September
last year so 2013 you came to me and and
since then it’s been like a whirlwind
and it’s been so positive and as much as
I like to fight you if I’ve totally
given it so a bit so okay that’s that’s
cool some good contacts did it start
then from the business because you felt
that you were too ordinary in your
business it didn’t start from the
personal side it came from in your
business so I recognized you know I
recognized a really long time ago I
don’t
how but I think I in speaking to people
but early on I recognize that my that
everyone has a motivation and my
motivation is recognition and it comes a
bit from my childhood and it comes from
my past circumstances but but i am not
really motivated by money I like you
know money’s great because it allows you
to do certain things that give you
recognition but really when someone
recognizes me for for being outstanding
or being an achiever or what have you
that’s that’s my drive and so the fear
this would being ordinary the fear of
that is actually just the flip side of
it it’s me not living my purpose it’s me
not being motivated and and you know I i
I’m in my early 30s now at the look time
I was in my late 20s and I really
thought you know I really worried that
that that I would go into my 30s and I
would arrive at 40 or 45 or 50 and look
back and go I had all this potential and
I didn’t tap into it so so that’s really
where comes from it’s just this just
this possibly selfish desire to to be
recognized right what so when we spoke
about it you said I want to be
extraordinary you had it more mapped out
right I want to export Nair in my
business I want to be an extraordinary
father only extraordinary husband in my
faith on to be extraordinary so you you
took that and applied it across your
life not just to the business side but
so you seen it starting with the
business and then you expanded it to
everything else or was it I mean point
it what got me thinking about it what
gets me thinking about most of the
things in terms of comfort zone in terms
of growth that’s that’s not my home life
I’m I probably have more work to do on
my home life to be a better husband to
be a better father to be more patient to
be a better Christian but but it’s my
business that makes me think about it
and so the business and me being a
business owner and me feeling a bit lost
not doing daily tasks and billables got
me thinking about it and and I think
I’ve been able to apply to the business
easier I think it will always be harder
for me to apply to my personal life
because because my business is is not
only it’s like my hobby it’s my passion
it’s it’s it’s it’s a lot of things to
me and so I got a lot more work to do
do being an extraordinary husband being
more patient being a better father
unfortunately I got work to do there
well you’re never done extraordinary
isn’t on Rory and it’s a high it’s a
high standard that’s the other thing you
know it’s a lot I like let’s go I didn’t
know the full story so it’s good we’re
actually have a question so one of the
people watching shucks TV wrote in to
say hey I believe I found my one word
but I think it’ll sound very cocky if
someone were to ask what advice do you
have well what’s the one word hahaha you
know let you know anytime you put
yourself in anyone else I’ve been
probably right you put yourself out
there you’ve done a lot in the last year
as well and and I’m fortunate because we
could spend time together but but no
matter what your word is if it comes
from within you you’re you’re you’re
putting yourself out there for criticism
and so my word to be extraordinary cut I
know it comes I try to balance it it
comes from from me wanting to be
recognized but but if I’m able to live
an extraordinary life if I’m able to do
extraordinary things then there’s almost
a gift in that right and and so I don’t
want to be too preachy but if I’m able
to be a much better father than that’s a
gift I’m giving my kids and if I’m able
to run an extraordinary business with
extraordinary people then that’s a
culture that I’m able to give my staff
and and and what can we do with that we
can be you know we can take care of
other people we can be more charitable
there’s there’s like a lot of benefits
that come from it so if you have an
inner word that seems too cocky look at
the other side of what you can do with
with just living that that that life so
yeah I mean I from my point of view
believe when I first can’t believe I
thought it was too big a word but I at
this doesn’t work I gotta I tried to
rework and I tried to add more like
believe in yourself gluten can be done I
know the more I looked at believe it
just it felt right and I just started
sharing it so uh yeah chefs we all want
to know what your one word is so sheriff
if you’re still there I want to put
another question in with your one word
so everybody everybody could know um no
that’s great so so so you have
extraordinary you know that came a
couple years ago you said in September
maybe for my
talking to you you’re you know you
started ramping it up now how have you
applied extraordinary to your business
and to your life so so we we had we had
ingrained this into our culture already
and you and I had a cup of coffee about
it because I was really challenged when
you when you brought it to me you know
you really challenged me to say you
should you should really start putting
this out there and living it and so so I
had to really look at myself to say well
what parts of my life was I was I
actually living this well do I believe
in it what parts of my actually living
and what parts do I need work on and
ultimately within the culture of our
business we all were more or less
operating that way but but we could
always do it better it’s never going to
end we weren’t sharing the story with
anyone you know we weren’t we weren’t we
were going through a rebranding process
at the time we’re launching a new
website and it wasn’t really anywhere on
our website so so the first thing I
wanted to do was from a sales and
marketing point of view not not you know
it’s not marketing BS it’s not it’s it’s
just how do we in fata we connected how
do we infuse it in there so that way
what we’re putting out there what we’re
saying what we’re talking about is in
fact how I want the business to live and
breathe and then the next step was let’s
look at let’s look at the sales process
then let’s look at the delivery process
and then let’s look at internal
operations how work how we’re speaking
to one another are you know is is
everything inside the company
extraordinary or is it really really
messy and ultimately we’re about halfway
through probably a 12 month cycle of
where we where we’ve really looked
outside we’ve started looking inside and
and we’ve had we’ve completely were
almost kind of restructuring
organization actually to make sure that
our clients are finding things
extraordinary so it’s not just the work
it’s the actual client experience it’s
speaking with us it’s working with us
internally you know we want everyone I
just I want people to wake up on on a
monday morning go yay I get to go to
work that’s to me what being
extraordinary is about and so it has to
has to kind of go everywhere and it’s a
really big thing and it can’t be done
too quickly but you know little by
little you can make progress so what is
some of the as you trying to implement
this and it’s still going to take
another excellent more months what are
some of the
I guess wins you pad or some of the
hurdles you’ve had along the way trying
to figure that out so I in terms of wins
you know I I worry a lot about what
people think of us and maybe maybe other
people do too i don’t know i worry a lot
about what people think of us so the
first being comfortable with it being
extraordinary is to say that not
everyone wants extraordinary i know they
don’t and if you don’t that’s fine and I
used to worry about wanting to work with
everyone and now I don’t want to work
with everyone because if for us being
extraordinary if you’re going to do it
do it the right way or don’t do it at
all and if people want to kind of go
halfway then they’re not for us so the
first comfort is saying you know what
when people don’t move forward with
working with us it’s not really a big
deal as long as we put out there that we
want to be extraordinary that we want to
make them extraordinary it’s their
choice whether they want to move forward
or not so there’s comfort in knowing in
knowing that from a sales point of view
from I’ve kind of lost track of the
question sorry that was so you’re trying
to implement this right in your business
and in your life we’re talking about you
know wins that you’ve had and and
struggles that you faced along the way
to try to make this thing happen yeah so
so okay thanks so internally I had a
bunch of light bulb moments like
leveraging this you know if I want to be
extraordinary extraordinary team and
they need to operate extraordinary in
all of these things and and so I had a
bunch of moments where I was like oh my
goodness is crystal clear to me that
we’re not doing this and so and once
once you can identify the issue you can
address it and so within our process and
I want to get too detailed in from a
process point of the problems in our
process we weren’t handing our clients
over from one division to another
division as well as we could and it
became really crystal clear that there
was that we were running into kind of
the clients were fearing this transition
because they just didn’t know it so we
do a better job now if setting that up
every step along the way within our team
that we had a bunch of issues
operationally and working with you and
the rest of the mastermind group I came
up with kind of five things that we need
to work on better and I kind of not to
be too corporate but us we call it the
you know the extraordinary client
experience model and it’s because if we
want clients have an extraordinary
experience
not just we’re not just delivering
extraordinary work we want them to
actually find the experience of it
extraordinary it mean it meant that
there were five things we had to work on
better and and I rolled that out with
the team and and and I was really really
surprised at that that they found these
tools they didn’t find it suppressing
they found it liberating like I was I
was empowering them to now hold each
other accountable and again none uh you
know maybe I would have tripped across
this but if I hadn’t really started
thinking through the lens of this one
simple word I don’t think I would have
gotten there very cool I like it I like
it now how do you how do you apply it to
your life and the other and husband and
your shade what what’s next remark
during here we’ll make sure your wife
watches is too much less you can hold me
again I’ll let you commit to you give me
my yeah she can be like a count ability
partner for this you know it’s it so
there’s so there’s a few things 1 i’m
actually and this might be
counterintuitive I’m trying to work
really hard not to compare myself to
other people and I’m never going to have
what other people have and they’re not
going to have what I have and so it’s a
few things it’s recognizing what it’s
being thankful and recognizing what
parts of my life for extraordinary that
I probably never would have even taken
into account so you know my wife and I
we’ve been married nine years I have
four kids every day while it’s well it’s
really uh III lack patience so to speak
you know I I work to look at my family
life and and so this is a weird story
but it’s if it all keep it short eight
years ago so we eight years ago we were
we were here in Florida where we were
and we met a couple and they were just
getting married and we just happened to
run into the exact same couple now eight
years later and so eight years ago my
wife and I had just gotten married we
had no kids I hadn’t started the
business yet we didn’t own our home and
we were really really financially not
doing too well and so I need this couple
again and and I thought jeez the last
time we spoke to you none of my kids
were alive we didn’t have any of these
things we’d weren’t stay
able and now look at what we’ve done in
eight years and to me that’s
extraordinary so so I don’t want to
necessarily compare myself to other
people I just want to look at what i
have and say wow I’m extraordinary and
then I want to look at how I can do
better so how can I be more patient with
my kids how can I provide for them in
areas that I weren’t wasn’t able to be
provided for when I was younger how can
i how can I raise them up to two value
working hard and and ethics and all
these things so I don’t know it’s a
really really lofty goal it’s being
extraordinary is a really high standard
and and it and there’s a lot of pressure
there too so also i don’t know you gotta
learn to back off yes so chefs robach he
said his word is revolutionary oh I love
it I like it too I like it fades you
gotta go with big words that was so so
what do you Evan what do you think’s
cocky about the word revolutionary you
know what I think people have doubt did
you have doubt when you can with
extraordinary when you first thought of
extraordinary that you did you was did
it just hit you and you’re like wow
extraordinary or did you have to think
about it and you doubted it or what was
your processor it was it was just the
word I mean I’m a marketer so I love
wordplay right it was extraordinary I
don’t want to be ordinary I want to be I
want to be extraordinary extraordinary
and it really clicked and it worked for
me but that’s just as I mean that’s just
as cocky as as revolutionary right or
belief like who’s to say that you know
who’s to say that you’re going to lead
the charge on belief and so you got it
you got it so if it clicks with you it’s
not gonna click with everyone right if
it clicks with you I like that word is a
strong world word it’s a bold word it’s
gonna mean that you’re outside of your
comfort zone and you’re living up to a
higher standard and the people who think
that you’re being too arrogant or being
too cocky they’re not they’re not gonna
get it right I mean you and I go back
and forth because a lot of times i don’t
i don’t get everything you’re doing but
i but I get that you believe in people
and you want others to believe in other
people too it’s true well said mate
you’re on you’re on the belief train
right Sam I love it yeah there you go
um how about sharing its you you you you
had this word you use it as kind of a
personal mission I guess for a little
bit and then you know I brought it up a
couple years later and I didn’t see it
because you weren’t sharing it but you
felt you were still kind of living it so
how do you how did you go from just
doing it yourself to then sharing it and
helping people see you know and then try
to live extraordinary lives too well I
mean that’s that’s interesting because
it so where where I can see where belief
is believe is for others um
extraordinary is for me so I mean I want
to surround myself with extraordinary
people I want to have extraordinary
experiences uh you know I was speaking
to someone who took a year to move to
Paris so his kids could learn French and
I thought why not me you know like why
can’t I do that I can do that I just
need so many years and I got to do this
and do that and to me that’s being
extraordinary but I’m not necessarily
sure I maybe I’m being selfish i’m not
so sure I want to empower others to be
external I’d love to and that’s part of
the business culture I spoke to earlier
I’d love to be able to give that gift
but each person has their own word and
um geez I lost track of the question
again I was just talk about sharing it
right because I felt like I challenging
you right in saying hey Mark is this
extraordinary or not yeah and I’m a
cynical marketer and so I want to make
sure that that I’m not I don’t want to
just roll it out I don’t want it to be a
campaign and so and so I I’m very I’m
still very guarded about it uh you know
we’ve worked it in in areas you know
what it is I want to demonstrate it more
than I want it to be up on posters and
so the word itself we worked in where it
makes sense but equally I use the word
awesome or I use the word amazing
because to me it represents the same
thing and I don’t want people to get the
the perception that that I’ve just
picked a word and I want to just kind of
poster it everywhere
and so and so from a rollout point of
view yeah we’ve worked it in where it
makes sense because it is a bold claim
and when we when we share things from
inside our office or our culture we
wanted to represent that and the work we
do we want to represent that and how we
go about the work we do we want to
represent that and who we hire has to
fit into that but I’m not just gonna I’m
not just gonna plaster the word
everywhere I wanted to be more the
feeling someone gets from it and that’s
how I’ve chosen to roll it out but at
the same time it’s become its but it’s
been very slow because I gotta really
figure out well what what does that mean
to me in terms of content and then what
does I mean to other people as well and
how are they going to perceive it last
question advice for somebody who is
watching this and saying wow you know
that it’s great to see the impact that
one word has had a marks life in his
business I I want to find my one word
and figure that out what advice would
you give somebody who is in that spot
doesn’t know what their word is and
wants to try to figure it out I I think
I think you have to I think more than
just the exercise of finding the word
you have to there has to be like an
inner want right like you got to be I
don’t have to be uncomfortable but there
has to be a desire and a kind of a
searching to figure things out so so if
you have that within you I mean I think
the word is very very very important but
that’s like the last step it’s more it’s
more like you know you have the desire
to figure things out or to change and
then spend some time figuring out what
that is what what it is that you want it
to look like because I’ve heard some
other people’s words and some of them
really resonate with me and others
others I don’t get because it’s just not
me and that’s fine you know so you have
to do it for you for yourself not for
anyone else and and maybe sit on it for
you know a month or a few weeks or maybe
a few months and figure out if it feels
right before you share it but then so
once once you want to change and you
kind of plan it out and you find the
word then you got to share it because I
again from your point of view we see
each other pretty regularly and you
didn’t even know that I felt that I was
living my word
and I think that’s really where I fell
down it’s not so much for my story
because I figured out a few years ago
it’s not so much that it was really even
hard for me to figure out because I
wanted to it was that I just never
shared it with anyone and that’s that’s
what I would do again if I could very
cool modern watch your video because you
explain it all in your video find your
word hey what coming soon to come on man
don’t forget the book all right um mark
thank you you’re on vacation you take
the time to join in this is fantastic
our first google+ hangout i love it um
and I learned to you know I didn’t know
the story so it’s cool thank you for
sharing um everybody watching mark
Draeger granta media ph a and ta there
you go CIA comm unit production company
based here in Toronto awesome company to
check out I will keep this live you guys
have any comments questions leave it
below we’ll check it out after this
thing goes up on YouTube thank you
everybody for watching thank you Mark
for joining in chef says thank you Mark
for NC my question to thank yous
everywhere do you guys see you soon okay
talking with Mark Draeger he is the
founder of fanta media and we are
talking today about his one word so I
believe that every entrepreneur should
find the one word that defines who they
are and bring that to the business and
it’s something I preach I do it on stage
you do it my videos and Mark has been a
member of my master my group for I don’t
know how many years and he actually came
to me before I went on my whole one word
crusade and told me that he was trying
to live extraordinary life and that was
his word and so I said Mark you gotta
tell me how you found your word and we
should make this a google plus hanger so
mark is in where are you mark are you in
florida right now i am i am in florida
it so it’s actually the first rainy day
in about two weeks normally 85 and sunny
alright well it’s pretty rainy here in
Toronto suit so it’s raining everywhere
um okay so before we dive in why don’t
we just tell everybody about what you do
thanx media so they kind of have a basis
point sure I mean essentially we’re a
video production firm that helps
businesses market and communicate and
train through video so quite simply I
started the company out as a single
person I did everything I did the
shooting I did the selling I did the
editing I did delivery and over the last
seven and a half years we’ve been able
to grow to a 10-person team very cool
and so extraordinary extraordinary is
mark mark draeger’s word how did you
come up with it well it’s funny though
because so maybe it’s a bit different
because because as you mentioned we kind
of reverse engineered this word to
certain degree so I found for many years
I was doing everything myself and I hit
a certain point in the business about
three maybe three and a half years ago
where I was no longer doing the
day-to-day and I had hired people to
take care of more more of the billables
and the tasks and and so I used to get
my kicks off of getting stuff completed
because if I got a completed meant that
I was generating money and then I found
myself at a point in the business where
I wasn’t doing billable tasks anymore I
had other people doing it and and and I
it was an achieve
but at the same time I felt a little bit
lost you know I felt like I wasn’t
contributing as much as I had or I felt
like like maybe I was actually draining
revenue and profit out of the business
because I wasn’t doing billable hours
and so I spent like six months not off
your call but I spent six months kind of
really confused as to what my place in
the business was and finally I got so
frustrated a feeling like I wasn’t
contributing like I didn’t have any
control anymore and I thought what you
know what is this and you and I happen
to be partnered that month which is
which is actually rare because you don’t
normally don’t normally partner up with
us but I remember thinking that I I just
what I was doing in terms of so I’m a
father I’m a Christian I’m a husband I’m
a business owner I didn’t want to be
ordinary and that’s really what it was I
didn’t want someone to look at me and
it’s it’s selfish it’s ego I know it’s
all of those things but I didn’t want
someone to look at me and go you know
there’s an ordinary guy I wanted to be
extraordinary or extraordinary and I
members emember kind of confessing this
to you on the phone and I remember you
saying wow that’s really cool and you
got a bit of a kick out of it and and
then and then we didn’t talk about it
for like tuna for three years haha so
that’s I mean that’s ultimately how I
arrived at at the word and this was as
you mentioned you know two or three
years before you really started to lead
this this this revolution of having your
one word and it was you who brought it
back to me and said listen you know two
or three years ago you confess to me you
want to be extraordinary and and to a
certain degree i think I I was living
that but I wasn’t I wasn’t sharing that
with anyone it was my private thing to
myself I don’t even think I mentioned it
to my wife and and then in September
last year so 2013 you came to me and and
since then it’s been like a whirlwind
and it’s been so positive and as much as
I like to fight you if I’ve totally
given it so a bit so okay that’s that’s
cool some good contacts did it start
then from the business because you felt
that you were too ordinary in your
business it didn’t start from the
personal side it came from in your
business so I recognized you know I
recognized a really long time ago I
don’t
how but I think I in speaking to people
but early on I recognize that my that
everyone has a motivation and my
motivation is recognition and it comes a
bit from my childhood and it comes from
my past circumstances but but i am not
really motivated by money I like you
know money’s great because it allows you
to do certain things that give you
recognition but really when someone
recognizes me for for being outstanding
or being an achiever or what have you
that’s that’s my drive and so the fear
this would being ordinary the fear of
that is actually just the flip side of
it it’s me not living my purpose it’s me
not being motivated and and you know I i
I’m in my early 30s now at the look time
I was in my late 20s and I really
thought you know I really worried that
that that I would go into my 30s and I
would arrive at 40 or 45 or 50 and look
back and go I had all this potential and
I didn’t tap into it so so that’s really
where comes from it’s just this just
this possibly selfish desire to to be
recognized right what so when we spoke
about it you said I want to be
extraordinary you had it more mapped out
right I want to export Nair in my
business I want to be an extraordinary
father only extraordinary husband in my
faith on to be extraordinary so you you
took that and applied it across your
life not just to the business side but
so you seen it starting with the
business and then you expanded it to
everything else or was it I mean point
it what got me thinking about it what
gets me thinking about most of the
things in terms of comfort zone in terms
of growth that’s that’s not my home life
I’m I probably have more work to do on
my home life to be a better husband to
be a better father to be more patient to
be a better Christian but but it’s my
business that makes me think about it
and so the business and me being a
business owner and me feeling a bit lost
not doing daily tasks and billables got
me thinking about it and and I think
I’ve been able to apply to the business
easier I think it will always be harder
for me to apply to my personal life
because because my business is is not
only it’s like my hobby it’s my passion
it’s it’s it’s it’s a lot of things to
me and so I got a lot more work to do
do being an extraordinary husband being
more patient being a better father
unfortunately I got work to do there
well you’re never done extraordinary
isn’t on Rory and it’s a high it’s a
high standard that’s the other thing you
know it’s a lot I like let’s go I didn’t
know the full story so it’s good we’re
actually have a question so one of the
people watching shucks TV wrote in to
say hey I believe I found my one word
but I think it’ll sound very cocky if
someone were to ask what advice do you
have well what’s the one word hahaha you
know let you know anytime you put
yourself in anyone else I’ve been
probably right you put yourself out
there you’ve done a lot in the last year
as well and and I’m fortunate because we
could spend time together but but no
matter what your word is if it comes
from within you you’re you’re you’re
putting yourself out there for criticism
and so my word to be extraordinary cut I
know it comes I try to balance it it
comes from from me wanting to be
recognized but but if I’m able to live
an extraordinary life if I’m able to do
extraordinary things then there’s almost
a gift in that right and and so I don’t
want to be too preachy but if I’m able
to be a much better father than that’s a
gift I’m giving my kids and if I’m able
to run an extraordinary business with
extraordinary people then that’s a
culture that I’m able to give my staff
and and and what can we do with that we
can be you know we can take care of
other people we can be more charitable
there’s there’s like a lot of benefits
that come from it so if you have an
inner word that seems too cocky look at
the other side of what you can do with
with just living that that that life so
yeah I mean I from my point of view
believe when I first can’t believe I
thought it was too big a word but I at
this doesn’t work I gotta I tried to
rework and I tried to add more like
believe in yourself gluten can be done I
know the more I looked at believe it
just it felt right and I just started
sharing it so uh yeah chefs we all want
to know what your one word is so sheriff
if you’re still there I want to put
another question in with your one word
so everybody everybody could know um no
that’s great so so so you have
extraordinary you know that came a
couple years ago you said in September
maybe for my
talking to you you’re you know you
started ramping it up now how have you
applied extraordinary to your business
and to your life so so we we had we had
ingrained this into our culture already
and you and I had a cup of coffee about
it because I was really challenged when
you when you brought it to me you know
you really challenged me to say you
should you should really start putting
this out there and living it and so so I
had to really look at myself to say well
what parts of my life was I was I
actually living this well do I believe
in it what parts of my actually living
and what parts do I need work on and
ultimately within the culture of our
business we all were more or less
operating that way but but we could
always do it better it’s never going to
end we weren’t sharing the story with
anyone you know we weren’t we weren’t we
were going through a rebranding process
at the time we’re launching a new
website and it wasn’t really anywhere on
our website so so the first thing I
wanted to do was from a sales and
marketing point of view not not you know
it’s not marketing BS it’s not it’s it’s
just how do we in fata we connected how
do we infuse it in there so that way
what we’re putting out there what we’re
saying what we’re talking about is in
fact how I want the business to live and
breathe and then the next step was let’s
look at let’s look at the sales process
then let’s look at the delivery process
and then let’s look at internal
operations how work how we’re speaking
to one another are you know is is
everything inside the company
extraordinary or is it really really
messy and ultimately we’re about halfway
through probably a 12 month cycle of
where we where we’ve really looked
outside we’ve started looking inside and
and we’ve had we’ve completely were
almost kind of restructuring
organization actually to make sure that
our clients are finding things
extraordinary so it’s not just the work
it’s the actual client experience it’s
speaking with us it’s working with us
internally you know we want everyone I
just I want people to wake up on on a
monday morning go yay I get to go to
work that’s to me what being
extraordinary is about and so it has to
has to kind of go everywhere and it’s a
really big thing and it can’t be done
too quickly but you know little by
little you can make progress so what is
some of the as you trying to implement
this and it’s still going to take
another excellent more months what are
some of the
I guess wins you pad or some of the
hurdles you’ve had along the way trying
to figure that out so I in terms of wins
you know I I worry a lot about what
people think of us and maybe maybe other
people do too i don’t know i worry a lot
about what people think of us so the
first being comfortable with it being
extraordinary is to say that not
everyone wants extraordinary i know they
don’t and if you don’t that’s fine and I
used to worry about wanting to work with
everyone and now I don’t want to work
with everyone because if for us being
extraordinary if you’re going to do it
do it the right way or don’t do it at
all and if people want to kind of go
halfway then they’re not for us so the
first comfort is saying you know what
when people don’t move forward with
working with us it’s not really a big
deal as long as we put out there that we
want to be extraordinary that we want to
make them extraordinary it’s their
choice whether they want to move forward
or not so there’s comfort in knowing in
knowing that from a sales point of view
from I’ve kind of lost track of the
question sorry that was so you’re trying
to implement this right in your business
and in your life we’re talking about you
know wins that you’ve had and and
struggles that you faced along the way
to try to make this thing happen yeah so
so okay thanks so internally I had a
bunch of light bulb moments like
leveraging this you know if I want to be
extraordinary extraordinary team and
they need to operate extraordinary in
all of these things and and so I had a
bunch of moments where I was like oh my
goodness is crystal clear to me that
we’re not doing this and so and once
once you can identify the issue you can
address it and so within our process and
I want to get too detailed in from a
process point of the problems in our
process we weren’t handing our clients
over from one division to another
division as well as we could and it
became really crystal clear that there
was that we were running into kind of
the clients were fearing this transition
because they just didn’t know it so we
do a better job now if setting that up
every step along the way within our team
that we had a bunch of issues
operationally and working with you and
the rest of the mastermind group I came
up with kind of five things that we need
to work on better and I kind of not to
be too corporate but us we call it the
you know the extraordinary client
experience model and it’s because if we
want clients have an extraordinary
experience
not just we’re not just delivering
extraordinary work we want them to
actually find the experience of it
extraordinary it mean it meant that
there were five things we had to work on
better and and I rolled that out with
the team and and and I was really really
surprised at that that they found these
tools they didn’t find it suppressing
they found it liberating like I was I
was empowering them to now hold each
other accountable and again none uh you
know maybe I would have tripped across
this but if I hadn’t really started
thinking through the lens of this one
simple word I don’t think I would have
gotten there very cool I like it I like
it now how do you how do you apply it to
your life and the other and husband and
your shade what what’s next remark
during here we’ll make sure your wife
watches is too much less you can hold me
again I’ll let you commit to you give me
my yeah she can be like a count ability
partner for this you know it’s it so
there’s so there’s a few things 1 i’m
actually and this might be
counterintuitive I’m trying to work
really hard not to compare myself to
other people and I’m never going to have
what other people have and they’re not
going to have what I have and so it’s a
few things it’s recognizing what it’s
being thankful and recognizing what
parts of my life for extraordinary that
I probably never would have even taken
into account so you know my wife and I
we’ve been married nine years I have
four kids every day while it’s well it’s
really uh III lack patience so to speak
you know I I work to look at my family
life and and so this is a weird story
but it’s if it all keep it short eight
years ago so we eight years ago we were
we were here in Florida where we were
and we met a couple and they were just
getting married and we just happened to
run into the exact same couple now eight
years later and so eight years ago my
wife and I had just gotten married we
had no kids I hadn’t started the
business yet we didn’t own our home and
we were really really financially not
doing too well and so I need this couple
again and and I thought jeez the last
time we spoke to you none of my kids
were alive we didn’t have any of these
things we’d weren’t stay
able and now look at what we’ve done in
eight years and to me that’s
extraordinary so so I don’t want to
necessarily compare myself to other
people I just want to look at what i
have and say wow I’m extraordinary and
then I want to look at how I can do
better so how can I be more patient with
my kids how can I provide for them in
areas that I weren’t wasn’t able to be
provided for when I was younger how can
i how can I raise them up to two value
working hard and and ethics and all
these things so I don’t know it’s a
really really lofty goal it’s being
extraordinary is a really high standard
and and it and there’s a lot of pressure
there too so also i don’t know you gotta
learn to back off yes so chefs robach he
said his word is revolutionary oh I love
it I like it too I like it fades you
gotta go with big words that was so so
what do you Evan what do you think’s
cocky about the word revolutionary you
know what I think people have doubt did
you have doubt when you can with
extraordinary when you first thought of
extraordinary that you did you was did
it just hit you and you’re like wow
extraordinary or did you have to think
about it and you doubted it or what was
your processor it was it was just the
word I mean I’m a marketer so I love
wordplay right it was extraordinary I
don’t want to be ordinary I want to be I
want to be extraordinary extraordinary
and it really clicked and it worked for
me but that’s just as I mean that’s just
as cocky as as revolutionary right or
belief like who’s to say that you know
who’s to say that you’re going to lead
the charge on belief and so you got it
you got it so if it clicks with you it’s
not gonna click with everyone right if
it clicks with you I like that word is a
strong world word it’s a bold word it’s
gonna mean that you’re outside of your
comfort zone and you’re living up to a
higher standard and the people who think
that you’re being too arrogant or being
too cocky they’re not they’re not gonna
get it right I mean you and I go back
and forth because a lot of times i don’t
i don’t get everything you’re doing but
i but I get that you believe in people
and you want others to believe in other
people too it’s true well said mate
you’re on you’re on the belief train
right Sam I love it yeah there you go
um how about sharing its you you you you
had this word you use it as kind of a
personal mission I guess for a little
bit and then you know I brought it up a
couple years later and I didn’t see it
because you weren’t sharing it but you
felt you were still kind of living it so
how do you how did you go from just
doing it yourself to then sharing it and
helping people see you know and then try
to live extraordinary lives too well I
mean that’s that’s interesting because
it so where where I can see where belief
is believe is for others um
extraordinary is for me so I mean I want
to surround myself with extraordinary
people I want to have extraordinary
experiences uh you know I was speaking
to someone who took a year to move to
Paris so his kids could learn French and
I thought why not me you know like why
can’t I do that I can do that I just
need so many years and I got to do this
and do that and to me that’s being
extraordinary but I’m not necessarily
sure I maybe I’m being selfish i’m not
so sure I want to empower others to be
external I’d love to and that’s part of
the business culture I spoke to earlier
I’d love to be able to give that gift
but each person has their own word and
um geez I lost track of the question
again I was just talk about sharing it
right because I felt like I challenging
you right in saying hey Mark is this
extraordinary or not yeah and I’m a
cynical marketer and so I want to make
sure that that I’m not I don’t want to
just roll it out I don’t want it to be a
campaign and so and so I I’m very I’m
still very guarded about it uh you know
we’ve worked it in in areas you know
what it is I want to demonstrate it more
than I want it to be up on posters and
so the word itself we worked in where it
makes sense but equally I use the word
awesome or I use the word amazing
because to me it represents the same
thing and I don’t want people to get the
the perception that that I’ve just
picked a word and I want to just kind of
poster it everywhere
and so and so from a rollout point of
view yeah we’ve worked it in where it
makes sense because it is a bold claim
and when we when we share things from
inside our office or our culture we
wanted to represent that and the work we
do we want to represent that and how we
go about the work we do we want to
represent that and who we hire has to
fit into that but I’m not just gonna I’m
not just gonna plaster the word
everywhere I wanted to be more the
feeling someone gets from it and that’s
how I’ve chosen to roll it out but at
the same time it’s become its but it’s
been very slow because I gotta really
figure out well what what does that mean
to me in terms of content and then what
does I mean to other people as well and
how are they going to perceive it last
question advice for somebody who is
watching this and saying wow you know
that it’s great to see the impact that
one word has had a marks life in his
business I I want to find my one word
and figure that out what advice would
you give somebody who is in that spot
doesn’t know what their word is and
wants to try to figure it out I I think
I think you have to I think more than
just the exercise of finding the word
you have to there has to be like an
inner want right like you got to be I
don’t have to be uncomfortable but there
has to be a desire and a kind of a
searching to figure things out so so if
you have that within you I mean I think
the word is very very very important but
that’s like the last step it’s more it’s
more like you know you have the desire
to figure things out or to change and
then spend some time figuring out what
that is what what it is that you want it
to look like because I’ve heard some
other people’s words and some of them
really resonate with me and others
others I don’t get because it’s just not
me and that’s fine you know so you have
to do it for you for yourself not for
anyone else and and maybe sit on it for
you know a month or a few weeks or maybe
a few months and figure out if it feels
right before you share it but then so
once once you want to change and you
kind of plan it out and you find the
word then you got to share it because I
again from your point of view we see
each other pretty regularly and you
didn’t even know that I felt that I was
living my word
and I think that’s really where I fell
down it’s not so much for my story
because I figured out a few years ago
it’s not so much that it was really even
hard for me to figure out because I
wanted to it was that I just never
shared it with anyone and that’s that’s
what I would do again if I could very
cool modern watch your video because you
explain it all in your video find your
word hey what coming soon to come on man
don’t forget the book all right um mark
thank you you’re on vacation you take
the time to join in this is fantastic
our first google+ hangout i love it um
and I learned to you know I didn’t know
the story so it’s cool thank you for
sharing um everybody watching mark
Draeger granta media ph a and ta there
you go CIA comm unit production company
based here in Toronto awesome company to
check out I will keep this live you guys
have any comments questions leave it
below we’ll check it out after this
thing goes up on YouTube thank you
everybody for watching thank you Mark
for joining in chef says thank you Mark
for NC my question to thank yous
everywhere do you guys see you soon okay
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