 Hello everybody. I am here this evening in Charlottesville, Virginia. I am over with a client and also anytime that I'm not working I am talking to our good friends at VectraVest in also in North Carolina and Ohio and I have been checking in with people in San Diego after the Ireland Business Forum and so on. So it really is an American week for me. Now that said what I really wanted to do tonight is to share with you my book review on the immigrant edge. It's written here by Brian Baffini and it is a New York Times bestseller. So I just want to give you a little bit of background on why and then I'm going to tell you three key things that I've picked up from it. So Brian Baffini was born in Dublin. He's one of six children and he went on to grow the largest realistic coaching business in America. So how did I come across him? Well my husband, Ardell, typical Irish story. My husband, Ardell, his cousin went to school with him in South Dublin and he said to me one time back in 2014 he said I went to school with Brian Baffini you should check him out he's doing great things in America. So I did and I sent an email and I went over to see him speak at an event in San Diego in 2014 and just in May of this year I was in San Diego again and I stopped by and I picked up a copy of his book and I met him again and also a number of his team we released a podcast with Jamie Noak for example. She is the director of corporate development there but in particular I read this book since and I wanted to share with you why I think it's a really interesting read. So the whole idea is the immigrant age is that people who are immigrants have an advantage in many ways on people who are local and on the other hand they have a complete disadvantage. So Brian Baffini started off in San Diego in California a long time ago and he had $92 in his pocket and from there he went on to marry his wife Beverly, have six children and as I mentioned went to business but of course it wasn't easy but as he points out in here what he needed to do was to leave her at the immigrant age. So now I want to tell you what I got out of this. First of all I'm not an immigrant per se because of course I live in Ireland however I'm fortunate that I get to spend a lot of time abroad so I am in a funny place where I'm neither an immigrant nor somebody who lives all the time in the one place. I have a little bit of a funny combination there. So when I read this I wasn't sure whether I was reading it from the point of view of somebody who's never been an immigrant or from somebody who spends time intermittently being one but it's an interesting angle that he has on this because what he talks about is for example I'll take you through a couple of one of the yeah by the way he starts off with the disadvantages and when you read those and I read them by the way I read that part of the book while I was in San Diego so I was physically in his town reading about what he was talking about and it makes very sobering reading I can say. But then he goes on to talk about the advantages. So he says for example often immigrants are coming to a better place so he describes the Dublin. I have to say that I don't that doesn't resonate with me because I am in a Dublin that is fully you know it's very it's full of various different organizations who've chosen it to be their European headquarters it's full of lots of startups now it's full of students who have big dreams of staying at home and doing very well and so on so you know when I was reading it he was describing it of a different place than what I have grown to be familiar with. But he also talks about for example the immigrants are pursuing their dreams that their backs are against the wall they have to make it and they have to go from there and that is very much of what absolutely does resonate from any time that I've been doing business in a different country or of course if I am meeting with the Irish diaspora in the various different ways in which I do. So he talks about that first but the whole point is about looking at your situation as an immigrant would and looking at how you can have the edge and he specifically mentions 21 challenges for you to take on and to run with. Now I'm not going to go through all 21 of them what I am going to go through are three points that really stuck out for me because a lot that he says in this book I have I've heard him say either before I've heard other people say and it's absolutely correct there's no doubt about that but I have been implementing it and I have been pursuing it myself so I'm not going to mention those points but what I am going to mention are three key things that have been that have really stayed with me. I've started reading this book six weeks ago now and I finished it about five days ago. So the first key thing that he points out is it's actually challenge number because I want to be clear on this is challenge number seven which is to be consistent. Now being consistent I have to say that is probably something that not an awful lot of us do from the point of view of that we start doing something and that we want to see results fast and what Brian Bofini mentions is how much better it is is that if we really sow the seeds and then after a while we will start to see the results but two key things have to happen number one is that you need to know what the output of this is going to be and number two is that you need to have the patience and the perseverance to keep going. Now one thing I really like about Brian is that I have started listening to his podcast for another reason which I'm going to mention in a while I've met him I've seen him speak on stage and I've also read his book so holistically I've got more of an insight into this author than many others many of the other authors that I've reviewed and he really he makes that point over and over and over and over and over again he consistently makes the point about being consistent. Now my take on this is it's hard to have that patience right it is hard to have that patience and the second problem with that is that it is hard to do more than one thing at once so I might say to you right now yes okay I'm going to start saving money I'm going to start saving 10 euros a day into a saving account and I'm going to start running two miles a day and right already we have a problem. Now I'm going to tell you how I have addressed both of those issues with some of what he says both some of what he says I got ahead from this book and some things that I've added on myself so one of the things that I'm going to say around consistency is often we know that if we do something for for long enough it will make a difference we do know that okay so therefore I know that if I start implementing something far away like saving or like running of course I can't run at the moment because I still have my broken foot so it's not something that I can do but I do know that if I was to implement that consistently over time that there will be a benefit from that okay I'm sure of it so since I arrived here I got here in Charlottesville I arrived here last Saturday and what I started to do was I started to swim because as I mentioned I can't run and okay so I got into the pool the first night got into the second night and then the third night and I started then look at my arms mirror and wondering had they improved of course they hadn't and I was giving out and then I was thinking okay hold on now hold on hold on as if Rome could be built in today because then imagine if I was to stop swimming am I some part of my body went back to being a less desirable way than it was before in three days well of course I wouldn't be happy that way either so the point is is that instead is to set mini goals is to say okay if I swim X amount of days in a row well then I will give myself the reward of whatever else it might be so therefore the ultimate outcome is not what you're waiting on because it can take too long to see but what you can reward yourself in doing is actually having the discipline to remain consistent and now the second thing I'm going to mention on this is how to create more than one habit at once so while I've been out here I have tried to create three habits and so far I'm doing it consistently and here is how is that I am never trying to be consistent in one habit sorry in two habits in the same way so I have tried to swim every day which I have done except for one rest day because that's important for your body and that's also something that he mentions and we all know to be clear so but I have been consistent in what I had been set out to do but that has been after I came back from where I've been with the client all day while I have been with the client I also wanted to create another habit which is to drink two liters of water I'm not drinking tall enough water so that has been the second thing so I've been focusing on that well I'm in with the client I have a bottle my water bottle is gone there somewhere I've been trying for this habit for years now so I'm really really really determined to make it happen this time so I've been I've been implementing that while I'm in with my client I've been implementing the pool while I've been here in the hotel and then separately when I'm doing neither that is when I'm implementing my business side of one so I have I have a business one and now I'm really working hard at a different one and I'll tell you about it at a later stage it's just I'm at the embryonic stages at the moment of refining it so I don't want to tell you something that hasn't worked already so that is what I'm doing is that in each environment I have a different one and you know it's seamless it's seamless and I'm getting there and so far so good you might say well now Susan you're only a couple of days into this I know but the public accountability by telling you about this means that now if there's now extra pressure on me that should my motivation dip down that I know that I want to be loyal to you because you're watching this video are reading subsequent blog posts that we're going to make of it so therefore I am now increasing momentum behind my consistency okay that's point number one he makes this point and I have to say if should you listen to his podcast which I highly recommend or should you read the book or should you do anything else where you comment into into an interaction with Brian Bofini or Bofini company you will hear that point the second thing that I want to mention is not so much what he mentions in the book actually but what he subsequently goes on to say in the podcast now he talks an awful lot about again I want to get the actual challenge itself so that you can refer to it and it's all in chapter 20 it's all about how to develop a willingness to outwork others right so it talks about in challenge eight for example to become exceptional now outwork others going the extra mile and digging deep having resilience right now they they're all different things but they have shades of the same point now I'm just I'm going to give you my take on this right is a lot of us go the extra mile for our clients we really do I see it all the time at vector vest for example the team at vector vest has a fantastic product and they have a fantastic customer service team and I personally have been at the cold face of talking to the team in the US trying to get some some sort of an additional product or service or experience or something for a customer of theirs where I know that that they will do their very very best when I'm on stage as I'm very grateful that many of you have seen me to be I do my absolute very best to give you all I can in the time that I have so that you can take away something that is implementable and practical right here on my book reviews what I do is that I know many of you don't have time to read an awful lot so therefore I try to summarize all of these books so that then you you can take away the key parts or you can decide if this book is for you or it's not okay I really really do try to do that and and lots lots of us right lots of us do the very best that we can and so he makes this point about you know wanting to go the extra mile and and so on like that and he talks in some ways about how he does but you know what I heard him say something in a podcast and only about a month ago so I was in between chapters and he actually talks about going the first mile first in other words if we are going to go the extra mile are we going the first mile so his whole point there is that are we actually meeting expectations first before we go on to exceed them and it's a very good point it's a very very good point and you know what a whole industry has exploded out of this and you know what that industry is called it's called customer experience and I was fortunate to interview somebody for the future of retail for Dublin Leo back in January and I asked I asked her she's an expert in it her name is is Susanna Houston and I and I'll tag her actually on this ball so you can you can see her later on but you know I did ask Grace what is customer experience like what really is it all about and she says it is simply meeting the expectations of the customer as you set them at every touch point and you know what that that that is a great point is that do we at every stage of the journey just meet the expectations and then seek to exceed them a lot of us try to exceed before we start at all a lot of us want to be the best so we're throwing in discounts for example before the customer ever wants so therefore the customer says okay I would like to buy X and we say okay yeah we'll do that and I'll give you Godina as well they never asked for a good deal they came to you in the first place or somebody sends in an inquiry and so they have arrived at your door and they have rined the doorbell of your company and maybe we haven't opened the door within the first 30 seconds in other words we haven't responded to that email in a sufficient period of time or whatever else it might be so therefore are we going the first mile before we go the extra mile and yes for sure there is very little traffic in the extra mile yes I agree with that completely but you know what in today's world where our expectations are higher than ever it is important before we start trying to be out there and trying to be the best like the best at the extra level is that are we simply meeting expectations in the first place because really actually I do think that in more and more I see that that's actually the place maybe that's where the hidden extra mile really is so last night for example I was in an Uber and I was in an Uber to get back to my hotel from I was at a Himalayan Indian dinner gala dinner which was amazing and I came back here afterwards but I have an awful allergic reaction to mosquito bites so I walked into CVS and somebody there was you know I walked in with the particular thing that I take to it's an antihistamine it's a homeopathic antihistamine for mosquito bites and I walked in anyway and I said do you have this just said no and I said okay where could I get it and she suggested whole foods and I said okay and then I said where could I get to a whole foods and she says I don't know how to give you directions there so I said okay thanks and look to be fair to the woman right she answered my query so if I went anyway and I got into the Uber and I just got back to the hotel but as I was going by then I realized whole foods was on the way and then I said to the Uber driver I said um could I pop in here and then I said could you let the meter run because I don't want you to have to decrease the fare because it was fixed fare I said could you let the meter run so that then I can pay for it and he said um I can certainly swing by but he said I can't uh change the meter and I said okay I said okay well then I said look I can tip you extra so anyway then in I went and then I went to whole foods and I was greeted at the door sorry I wasn't I walked up to the counter and I took out again but I was up over and I said do you have this and the guy behind the counter says um I don't know but he says we could have something over in that aisle over there let me call an assistant to help you find it and I said oh I'm sorry nice so so he picked up a radio and he said hello whatever he said and anyway by the time I got down to aisle number seven or wherever it was there was a woman waiting to help me and I was getting progressively more impressed and then uh so anyway then we walked over to where the homeopathic remedies are and then she said uh no we don't have that one but hold on a second we have this one instead and she said you can you can take in this dose of this dose I took the higher one because believe me I don't want to have to deal with this and then she says by the way if it doesn't work keep your receipt bring it back we would happily refund you for it Sonya then I went back outside and unfortunately because I'm in the boot as you know I'm in the boot all the time and sometimes boots the boot that I'm in for a broken foot doesn't always meet surfaces very well so I fell outside of whole foods and not badly but I did anyway and not bad as I say not too bad Sonya I was able to pick myself up and get back up and the Uber driver came straight back over drove up to where I was gathering myself together and then uh then I sat back in and then he said is the temperature okay and there was a bottle of water waiting for me there and I said wow okay then he dropped me back to the hotel and I generously left the tip and uh because he deserved it and off I went but the point was is that in both cases they met the expectation first and then they exceeded it in the case of whole foods I got what I was looking for not specifically what I was looking for but something similar um and then in the case of Uber I got to my destination in a nice peaceful you know safe environment and then they went the extra mile and now I'm telling you all about it as well now I mean whole foods and Uber are not requiring me at this very moment to be telling you about their services I'm sure they don't need anymore marketing for them but the point was was that I think yes we try to go the extra mile but you know what let's just think about first are we actually going the first mile are we going the first mile and when you think about every interaction so when they go to your website can they call you is your number clearly there and yes this stuff is simple I know that and I know you're thinking Susan seriously seriously is this honestly what you got out of the book it actually is because you know what if we don't like think about apple right apple made a business out of simplicity are we all for complicating things are we trying to add on bells and whistles when we simply just need to make a product do just what we say it will do our service as well and that's something that I'm really thinking through with the moment is that I'm trying to look at the touch points of all experiences that you might have with me or with any of the interactions that you might have with my business are by the way with any of the clients that we have whereby the interaction ultimately comes to us and that's that's certainly something that Brian Bafini has made me think about the third thing is this and I thought it was good on this right I actually did but you know what he made me think again so this is actually challenge number one which is to upgrade your input upgrade your input now okay we've all heard the whole idea right if you are surrounding yourself for negative people well then you're going to be ostensibly negative yourself and so on like that right but he goes further now he says okay what are you reading what are you listening to what are you watching who are you who are you reaching out to who are you aspiring to be who are your own models that's what he means by your input right so so I thought about this as well right because believe me I always know that when I read a book I'm going to be telling you about it so therefore I don't just look through my eyes I look through my eyes and then through your eyes look through my eyes if you know what I mean so I just think about well as you know one of the values of our company is perhaps what we preach so I always think if if I was to evaluate me from an external perspective am I doing what I'm espousing that I pick up from these books right so that's why it takes me so long to do all of these is that I like it takes me a while to read these for that reason so I thought about this right now since I broke my foot I spent five months when I couldn't drive um because I physically couldn't write so therefore I noticed that I wasn't listening to podcasts and you know why is because I listened to my podcast in the car so therefore my daily dose sorry my weekly dose of I always listen to the ft politics podcast I listen to the average times business and politics podcast and that's where I get the summary of the week on things like brexit and various different aspects about the economy from an Irish perspective and a global perspective looking at Ireland and so on right um so uh so what I started doing since he reminded me to upgrade my input is that I did a critical review of my podcast and I was thinking yeah but they're not they're not they're not brought enough I'm looking or listening to a lens of Irish and UK because I'm back driving now again with the last uh two and a half months I broke my foot on the 7th of December so um so that's that's where I'm at now is that I'm I'm broadening them and I started listening to Brian's actually and and I always come away with one kernel just one right I look for one and his podcast around about 20 25 minutes sometimes they're longer and sometimes he interviews other people and sometimes I listen and I get impatient because I've heard what he said already from the book or whatever and but I seek out a kernel and I always get one and then what I do is that I've also tried actively sought out to find podcasts that I disagree with right that I disagree with the title something in the title I disagree with I actively do that so that I know that I'm finding a diverse point of view so that's what I've done in terms of upgrading my input and also what I've done as well is that I have the other thing is because I couldn't fly for four months that's why you haven't seen me do a book review in a long time is because I read when I when I go away because the natural distractions of home aren't here so and of course you can't um you can't when the when the plane is taking off and landing you have to turn off your laptop so therefore I don't turn on laptops anymore and flights I simply read right so that's that's when my reading time is and um but that's not good enough though is it it's not good enough because if I'm traveling then I don't read and then that's not good enough because reading is so important it is so uh so that's one of the things that I'm I'm certainly gonna do and you again hold me accountable to this because I know that in order for one of our newsletters to go out is that I can't let it go too long before a book review isn't in one so therefore you hold me I believe me I turn to you uh to hold me accountable to doing a lot of good things in my life that I know should that should be done so that's another that's another point that I've now since reading since reading this book is that I've now need to find another slot in my life when it's not just when I am reading or not just when I'm flying but when I'm when I'm reading I need to read another time and I'm coming around to that I really am I haven't been blinded yet but I I'm coming around to fight just finding finding that time I what I will say is uh just as regards your input as well right some of your input doesn't need to be externally and that might sound like a complete oxymoron right but actually do you know what sometimes we need to do is to let your thoughts in here form now I've written about this particularly on savvy women online and I've written about this in the context that journaling now he's a big big big fan of this he is a huge fan of of journaling but uh journaling is great if you if you want to do it if you the patients do it if you like doing it if it suits you right and it's something that I do not as often as Brian now but it is something that I do and the reason that it's a good idea is because I think fast right I think faster than I talk I talk fast but my hand couldn't keep up so when you're writing you actually let your thoughts form that's what you do you let your thoughts form so as a result when you journal you you therefore you let your thoughts come out so therefore when it comes to your input maybe the input is already in here it just needs to come out to be processed in again but I will also tell you something else that I've discovered in the past five days last five days been amazing because I've you know I've been consistently implementing these these new incremental habits um and that is that I always thought right swimming must be the most boring thing possible right because what did you got to do except go up and down and up and down like a goldfish like I mean great crack so that that was often what like that was the reason I was not a swimmer before but needs most right as I say I can't do any cardio I can't I can't cycle I can't run um I can walk but I can't walk like remarkably far or remarkably fast so I can't do cardio when it comes to any of the above right so therefore ask my physio physio say the only thing you can do is swim but you know what I've started doing is that when I go into the pool because I know I'm not going to be doing anything else is I give myself something to think about before I get in and what I did tonight before I went into the pool was I thought about the three key things that I wanted to tell you about in this booker room and they're now all very clear by the time it came out I do have an output I do I'm trying to use that in the present tense I do half an hour in the pool not I am going to not I would like to do I do so I want to keep it up so in the pool tonight I thought about okay what are the three key things that I wanted to tell you and uh and you know my three key things are about is consistency was about going the first mile not just as well as the extra mile and then thirdly was about upgrading your input and every night that I have been in the pool for the last four nights before well I took one night off as I say I took one night off last night and the last three before that when I come out of the pool I write down my ideas and I've started implementing them as well and they've actually started to yield results to um small ones but all the same but that's what I've started doing is that I've actually started taking the input out of my head because that has been put in there by other things that I don't really subconsciously that I don't really know about and I'm using swimming or the thinking time that I have in the pool to let it come out so that's how I've been upgrading my input is okay number one broadening it to make sure that I'm finding enough diverse range of views um and making sure that if you know something happens like a break my foot and I'm not in the car or I don't fly that that doesn't stop um secondly is that I have also then made sure that when I've been thinking about upgrading my input is that I'm actively making sure that the habits are in place that that that it's on autopilot and then the third thing is that I'm making with my swimming I'm now giving myself a task to think about and I have and so I don't jump into the pool and not think unless I need it because sometimes you might just need to de-stress but that doesn't happen so therefore that is how I have been upgrading my input so therefore they are the three key things highly recommend it I do highly recommend it and I always you know mentioned that in the in my book reviews who I would suggest to not read this book right and it's hard to say actually because I think it's a very good book for for everyone but you know what I've said this about other books as well like I kind of hear particularly no fairs no excuses when I reviewed that a couple weeks ago was that's a bit ago now is if you don't want your life to improve if you just want to whinge about how bad it is Brian Lofini is not the guy to go to he's really really not the other thing that I would say is I and I haven't done this before is that I will mention that this book is a really good combination with Deep Work by Cal Newport and I mentioned I thought I reviewed that book months ago now but Cal Newport's book about Deep Work is about how to go really deep and to do something that's really you know how to make things really really matter and that is that book is brilliant and I have implemented that and the things that I told you that that time in that book review has led to great great great help Brian Bofini's book is more how to do small incremental things that make a difference so they're almost like a T right so Brian Bofini is how to do things broadly that incremental things that have an impact impact Cal Newport's book is how to do things deeply that will have a really big impact as well and put the two together like I'm doing and and I think well they're working out for me so far so here live from Charlottesville Virginia thank you so much indeed for tuning in tonight I know that at home in Ireland it's late at the moment I see that some of you have joined me from there so thank you very much and I also see that some of Ireland's family in San Diego California are well not quite San Diego but in California who I met up with when you're there hello to you Anna great to see you and great to see that that you've joined in and Brian Bofini if you're watching thanks so much indeed for for giving me this book I really do hope that you continue to make the difference that you do you've got I know 20 000 clients and that you've helped three million people right around the world and I know that you often hold true to your Irish roots and on behalf of the nation thanks so much for doing that you're doing an amazing job best wish to you Beverly Andrews six children and a final thank you to Brian and Sweeney who introduced me to you so to each and every one of you thank you and goodbye