Author, speaker and consultant, Barry Maher, www.motivationalpresenter.com, has appeared on the Today Show, the NBC Nightly News and he’s frequently featured in publications like the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.
His client list includes organizations like ABC, the American Management Association, Budget Rent a Car, Canon, Cessna, Hewlett-Packard, Lufthansa Airlines, Merck, the U.S. Government, Verizon and Wells Fargo.
His books include Filling the Glass, which has been cited as “[One of] The Seven Essential Popular Business Books.”
Thank you for joining us here at The Corporate Escapists. Please introduce yourself to our reader. They love to know about you, your passion, and how you came to find and follow your passion.
I was lucky. An accounting mistake and a boss who was sure I’d never leave such a lucrative job, pushed me to the point where I walked out the door and into what I really wanted to do: writing, speaking and consulting.
Oprah once quoted ‘You are where you are in your life, based on what you believe. If you’re not looking at the shadows, what is subconsciously telling yourself you’re not good enough, not worthy enough, not smart enough…you’re not enough, you end up acting out of THAT belief system, and not of what you want to be the truest for yourself.””. How important is it to you to have the belief within ones self?
If you don’t learn to believe in yourself, you’ll never succeed as an entrepreneur. It takes that belief to leave the safety of a steady job. And it takes that belief to be able to make all the thousands of little decisions that lead toward success or away from it.
Tell us what the word “Entrepreneur” means to you?
Being an entrepreneur means long hours, lots of responsibility, more chances to screw up, more likelihood of having to take the blame. But, beyond the money, beyond the status, entrepreneurs are happier for one main reason. They have more control. Over situations, over the business, over their own lives.
How has the life of being an entrepreneur, changed you?
Being an entrepreneur has made me more confident, yet I hope it’s also made me more atuned to others. If I’m not helping other people, I’m not doing my job.
Share you thoughts on the importance of business owners to be a leader in their own life and ensure they have a work/life balance?
Occasionally I make a list of all the ways I spend my time, ranking the list in order of the amount of time I spend on each. Then, I write down the things I consider the most important in my life, in order of their importance. And check the difference.
What is your favourite quote about “following your dreams”?
“It’s not whether you see the glass as half full or half empty. It’s what you do to fill it up.”
-Barry Maher
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to start their own business?
Develop the following characteristics:
• First, persistence: you have to know how to be winningly aggressive; that is, you have to be aggressive without appearing pushy.
• Second, you need empathy: you have to be able to see the world through your customers’ and your employees’ eyes
• Third, you need flexibility.
I’ve seldom known anyone with all those traits to fail.
