Monday Manufacturing Motivation – with Wesleyne & Nicole Donnelly

Curt Anderson  00:04

Oh, hey Damon. I think we’re live. How are you, buddy?

Damon Pistulka  00:07

I’m doing great, Curt. Thanks.

Curt Anderson  00:08

Amen. Happy Monday. We are post Mother’s Day. So I think there’s something special going on, but I’m gonna introduce our guests real quick here. So hey, Wesleyne, my dear friend, my partner in crime. How are you today? Happy Monday.

Wesleyne  00:25

I am doing fantastic. Happy Monday.

Curt Anderson  00:28

Well, hey, thank you for joining us. I know you’re super busy. What an honor and privilege to have you here today. Nicole Donnelly’s in the house Nicole.

Nicole Donnelly  00:37

Hello. Hello. How are you? I’ve been I’m in the Mother’s Day hangover phase right now. It’s amazing. So pampered I got to sleep in and got fed in bed and all that delightfulness show. I’m still just as you like to say savoring the flavor. The flavor of Mother’s Day. So there, thank you for what you do. You’re all awesome rock stars. You’re doing great work.

Curt Anderson  01:08

Well, Mother’s Day hangover. I absolutely love that. And so you know, this is a good kind of hangover. We really don’t need any aspirin or any remedies to cure. So you know, we’re here to spoil you to rot. And so let’s just let’s keep the Mother’s Day party going. But before we go there, I don’t know if we want to sing or not. But Wesleyan is what is it? It’s May 15. As a matter of fact, and this is how I know so there’s a double thing going on today. Wesleyan. What is May 15. What is special day that day?

Wesleyne  01:37

Um, I don’t know. I think it might be somebody’s birthday.

Curt Anderson  01:41

Is it someone on stage? Somebody here? Here.

Wesleyne  01:45

It may be a special day for someone.

Curt Anderson  01:51

That handsome devil over there. I saw Hey, we Damon. We won’t sing but Happy Birthday brother. We man we just wish you an amazing day. What a great year you are such a Go Giver and all that you do for everybody in our network in our community. We thank you. We applaud you. We love you. And we wish you just a wonderful birthday today. So happy birthday. Round of applause for Damon.

Damon Pistulka  02:17

Thank you. Thank you.

Nicole Donnelly  02:20

Okay, yeah,

Damon Pistulka  02:21

there’s a lot of them there. But, you know, we’re gonna add more.

Curt Anderson  02:25

There’s always room for more, man, because guess what gaming, we’re gonna be here for, like, 25 years from now. Yeah.

Damon Pistulka  02:35

I made it. I know, honestly. When I was like, in my early 30s I mean, it was right after the bicentennial. And so that was, you know, 1976 Right. And this was not in 76. But later on in life, I just said I’m living to the tricentennial Okay, I just did, so I’ll be 115

02:58

Hey, that’s gonna be a stretch.

Damon Pistulka  03:00

We’ll see. I’m going

Curt Anderson  03:08

to show right around the nursing home yeah. Today Hey guys, with Damon a happy birthday and Nicole. It’s also it’s another special day in an Anderson household today. So 25 years ago today I got my lovely wife to say yes. And so I don’t know how on earth. I pulled that accomplishment off so 25th wedding anniversary. Yeah, for my lovely wife. And so we had a wonderful weekend to the you know, so Nicole I spoiled her for Mother’s Day and for our anniversary so Okay, celebrating going on. Yes,

Damon Pistulka  03:55

I’m gonna say that’s a lot harder than a birthday because birthday I mean you just got to not die. You just gotta you get one of those. You just gotta get one of those if you’re around right now five years that’s work

Curt Anderson  04:13

you have to not die for that one there are many days I automatically it I’m sure there’s many people who want to kill me so you know anyway so yeah, so I’m lucky so I big anniversary on my birthday for Daymond Damon it’s always remember your birthday. So today and so we are here to talk about radical gratitude man and I just can’t think of two more special people in my life. And these two have been you know in what’s funny, my biggest connections on LinkedIn are right here three years in a row. Damon was in 2020 right like the week of COVID. demonized connected on LinkedIn. A year later our dear friend Dan bigger jobs me note says hey Kurt, I need you meet a friend of mine. Her name is Wesley Wesley, we became instant friends, we’ve done tons of business together. That was in 2122, February of 22. On Valentine’s Day, Nicole knocks on my door. And so three of my closest comrades here are with me today and on a special day. And we’re here to talk about radical gratitude. So, Weston, I’m going to start with you. You know, you’re I love that you have a wonderful sign over your shoulder, you’re just great mom, fierce leader, you’re just I had my respect, admiration for you, off the charts. Woman and faith, I just I’ve learned so much from you. I’ve grown with you. Radical gratitude. When you hear that term, like think like from a personal standpoint, we’ll take a deeper dive into business. But what does radical gratitude mean to you?

Wesleyne  05:46

Hmm, that’s good. So for me, when I think of radical gratitude, I, as you mentioned, I’m a person of strong faith, because I always start with God first, right? And then once I honor God, and I thank him for all the things that he’s done for me, I think about the people that he’s placed in my life, right? And so how do you show that gratitude? How did you actually show like the way that God loves us? How do you show up and show that to people? And so I think when people like you, right, who through these two years that we’ve been connected, how you’re always there, you’re like, my biggest cheerleader, I’m like, Kurt is my big cheerleader, or I think about close friends that I have at times when I’m like, I’m not sure about this or that they’re like, no, let me remind you of your greatness. And what do I do to reciprocate? I make sure that when I’m around somebody, and they need a word of encouragement, or if there is a time and they just pop in my mind, I don’t take it lightly. And I’ve reached out to them and I tell them, how grateful I am for them and how amazing they are.

Curt Anderson  06:52

Okay, man, that might be our first mic drop moment right there. And we’ve got some great we got a great crowd going so Karen’s here Hey, Daymond, Karen dropped a note here. I just want to share the world is a better place. Because you’re here we got John wishing a Happy Birthday, John McLean. Oh, my dear friend. We’re talking earlier today. So he says Happy anniversary. Karen. Thank you. And Val, happy Monday. Thanks for joining us, Dan. Bigger is the connector connector. Guys. If you’re with us today, drop us a note. Let us know in the chat box where you’re coming from you definitely, absolutely. Please connect with Wesleyan and Nicole, do yourself a huge favor. These guys are just relentless go givers. They’re here to help you, Nicole coming at you, my friend. Radical gratitude. You have taught me so much. I’ve learned so much I grow with you. You challenge me on a daily basis. And we constantly talk about how to be in a constant state of gratitude. What does radical gratitude mean to you on a personal note?

Nicole Donnelly  07:53

Oh, I love this question. So like Wesleyan. I, too, am a woman of deep faith. And I would say for me, radical gratitude is just celebrating, celebrating just the beautiful gifts that God has given to us, you know, and I just think like, constantly, constantly tried to think about that every morning, when I go throughout my day, just celebrating this beautiful world, that he’s blessed us with the relationships that we have, and just always trying to look for the good in every situation, even the bad situations. You know, like, I just got off a phone call before this with a dear client, who gave me some really great feedback last week. And when I first got this feedback, I was like, Oh, this hurts to hear. And I don’t you know, but initially, when I stepped back, and I just looked at it with some humility. I just was left with deep gratitude. And I just had the most amazing conversation with him. And just express my gratitude to him and he was grateful. And I just think if we look at like, we’re all especially as entrepreneurs, wherever you are, even if you’re not an entrepreneur, or if you’re, wherever you’re at in your career, we’re all going to be facing challenges, roadblocks, hiccups, and I think, if you just go into it with a mindset of like, How can I be grateful? How can I be thankful for whatever this situation is teaching me? Anyway, that’s what I that’s when I think of radical gratitude. I just think celebrate celebrate this wonderful world life, blessings that we’ve been given from God.

Curt Anderson  09:29

You know, I couldn’t love that more and you know, David Zune, I get not older right more seasoned little bit more veteran with ASEAN year. It’s you know, you learn like you know, why me why me and instead of like, you know, you know, think focusing on the negative, you know, Damon big thing that I’ve learned from you, you just took a wonderful trip with your wife and like every no every texture sent me it was just like, you were like, overwhelmed with how beautiful our country is. And how overwhelmed is quality time you get to spend with your wife and I I’m overwhelmed that the blessings that you know, you could take, you know, What’s radical gratitude mean to you?

Damon Pistulka  10:07

Well, it’s the opposite of what you said, the woe is me, you know, we can sit there all day long and be like that. But, you know, honestly, most of the people that are around us that we look at that we know the people that are listening to this, there’s really no reason to be doing that. Yeah, I mean, yes, if you got cancer, it sucks, or something like it sucks. But that is not a reason that you can’t be grateful for the fact that I am here battling it, I can do this, I can wake up, I can give it my best, I have people around me that love, there’s just so many good things. And to me, it’s the opposite of the Woe is me. And, and I just, you know, to me, radical gratitude is thinking about those little things, you know, like, you know, the sunlight on your face. And just just taking that second and going, Whoa, that feels really good. I’m gonna sit here for 10 seconds, just feel it, right. And doing that. That’s it. Right? Because Because if you had little things like that make a difference to you. Right? When something big happens, it’s going to be grand, it’s going to be great. And you’re going to understand that in and then I think on the opposite side of it, too, is, as Wesley and Nicole both said, is challenges have little hidden gems in them. And it can be the most gut punching thing that happens to you. And there are little nuggets of if you can take out what you really learn out of them and go, Yep, I had to start over with my business that really sucks. But I know what I’m not going to do now. And I made some good friends in it. There’s just all these things that are in that the nurse person and I can focus on all the negative stuff. Or I can take those other things and build upon them and make a better, better next to next whatever. I just think there’s just so much there’s so much if you don’t wake up and just cry every day.

Curt Anderson  12:06

Right? Right. Yeah, that’s a great point. I don’t remember years ago, Jimmy Valvano, for anybody old enough to remember he was a basketball coach won a national championship with NC State 1983 ish, I think. And he gave a talk when the most famous talks on ESPN. And he was dying of cancer literally had, I think months left to live. And he gave one of the most moving speeches. And he said that you should tell somebody you love them. I’m going to butcher it, what were the three, you’re telling them you’re going to love. Love them every day, you should laugh every day, and you should cry every day. And so the thing is, you know, with the Y meet when you flip that script, and mostly this is what you know, when you die, we’re you know, we’ve done tons of webinars, workshops, trainings together, you know, what you taught me was like, hey, instead of making it about us, making it about the other person instead of like, Hey, why me this negative, negative, negative? Man, why me have all these blessings? Why me for all these great things that are going on? So let’s spin it from a professional standpoint. Let’s talk about our careers. Let’s get it you know, you are with Wessling from transform sales, sales guru, just an IQ sales extraordinaire, leadership expert. If you’re not falling asleep on LinkedIn boy, please do man your videos on a daily basis are so inspiring. So let’s go there radical gratitude from a professional standpoint and with customer relationships.

Wesleyne  13:26

So kind of like Nikolas said, There was a situation that I had not too long ago. And so for a while whenever I would, because you know, I’m a salesperson sales guru. So whenever I lose a deal, I’m

Curt Anderson  13:44

Oh, did she freeze? froze? Oh, I didn’t

Nicole Donnelly  13:50

see, too. I did

Curt Anderson  13:54

that because like, I just want everybody on a cliffhanger. So now you got to stick

Damon Pistulka  13:58

it out. Right there. Yeah.

Curt Anderson  14:01

Let’s, let’s give a couple of shout outs. We’ve got Hey, Whitney’s here today, Whitney. She’s giving a shout out. Karen dropped a note. Let’s see during tough times, I just remind yourself that God seems to think I can benchpress a Buick. Man. Is that a good one? Yeah, the vote of confidence, Lord, now together. Let’s get through this and see what lessons are waiting for me? What a great way to spin. I just read something like that recently, where someone was like, you know, those deep dark challenges are when God is saying, Hey, I know that you can handle this. Let’s see what you’re going to do with it. Here’s Wesley. Okay, okay. Take it away.

Damon Pistulka  14:38

You left us with a cliffhanger. You said. You’re going right into it. And you say girl and it stopped right there.

Wesleyne  14:45

So literally said, I said God, Why are you closing this door? And so he so I sat in that for a while. And what I realized was he was closing doors, because that wasn’t the kind of business he wanted. Me to do. And literally within a week, I started getting different kinds of inquiries and different kinds of people popping in. And so it helped me realize that a lot of times we try to focus on what we want to do. But that’s not what we need to do. So being grateful for the lessons that we learned in our loss, and being grateful for the lessons that we learn in our wins, because sometimes when something happens, it’s not a bad thing. It’s a good thing. It’s a reason for us to learn when we have a really, really difficult client has had many of those. And I but I learned so much, and the processes that we implement within our business and the corrective actions that we use is because of those hard clients or difficult clients. So really taking those negative things or the bad things that we think are happening to us in our business or in our career and flipping them around and saying, What can I learn from this? What how can I become better, stronger, faster? Or more intelligent on it? All right, excellent.

Curt Anderson  16:02

Now there is a mic moment right there as well. That was fantastic. More more. What was what was your aunt Nicole? And Barbie, and Barbie, and Barbie and what was the pie the Empire? Was it rhubarb strawberry?

Nicole Donnelly  16:17

Ate all the pies but

Curt Anderson  16:18

was it? Was it just just listening? Wesleyan isn’t like just an barbs? Yeah, there. Rhubarb pie is just like, smelling it right now. Just savoring that strawberry rhubarb pie right there. So, man, that’s a good How did that feel? So okay, Nicole, radical gratitude working with clients, you just shared a great example where someone gave you some great feedback. We, you know, United talking about this constantly, you know, working with clients, you know, boy, if we get into client situation, was it you know, where are those learning opportunities? Did we put ourselves in the wrong position? Do we kind of walk down the wrong path? Radical gratitude with business relationships to you? What do you what are your thoughts there?

Nicole Donnelly  16:59

Yes, I think radical when you are grateful, you are humble. And I think if you want to grow and serve your clients, and really help them the best way possible, you have to be humble, you have to be, you’re not going to be able to innovate, you’re not going to be able to, you know, create, you know, better products, if you can’t have the humility to just sit back and listen, really listen, and try to learn from what they’re telling you and, and shed all of this, like, well, I have all this industry experience, or they just don’t understand what you know, what we’re doing and all of that, you know, you gotta shut all that and really, I think, have the humility to just listen. And that’s when that’s when the magic, that’s when the magic happens. And with your team to like, you know, I think you know, as leaders, you have to, you can never say thank you enough. You just can never say thank you enough. I had a team member telling me the other day, I was like joking with her. And I said, I know I just say thank you all the time. It probably gets old and she literally said it never gets old. I love it. I say thank you. i She’s like I can’t you know, so I just think we have to be just really intentional about constantly sharing with our gratitude with the people on our team and with our clients for the opportunities they bless us with you know.

Curt Anderson  18:21

Okay, that was fantastic. I want to pull up Megan here, Megan, happy Monday. Thank you for dropping a comment. I have a gratitude partner. Every one half minutes gratitude sent by whatsapp to my partner. She’s seven hours hours ahead. That’s fantastic. And hey, Dan, I hope your ears were ringing because we were just talking about how you connected Wesleyan and myself, dear friend of our of all of us on stage here, dude, we love your brother always rooting you on. So thank you for chiming in. So our humility in what and communication you can never say thank you enough. Westling again, like your posts on a daily basis, the videos you are just tenacious, relentless, such a Go Giver, how important is that communication. And as Nicole saying, Never, you can never say thank you enough. Your thoughts, their

Wesleyne  19:08

communication is so important. And when you think about it from a standpoint of being a leader, whether you’re leading a team or you’re cross leading across, because I think as a person, when you’re working with an organization, you may not have people directly reporting to you, but you’re leading your colleagues and you have to leave your boss in the way that you want them to really show up for you. So I always tell my employees as well as my friends, everyone around me, I communicate the good and I communicate the bad if you’re doing something that is really positive. If you have impacted the organization, you’ve done something really great, then I’m going to let you know. Because I don’t want you to only think that when I say hey, let’s have a meeting. It’s because I’m trying to recommend you or Hey, Let’s have this call I have something important to share with you is because there’s something bad going on. So really sharing those good things. And I had an employee who told me, I think it was probably over the Christmas holidays, and she was sharing some gratitude with me. Because you are the person you want to be right. So I speak the way that I want to be spoken to I treat others the way that I want them to treat me. And so I teach people how to show up for me, and I teach people how to interact with me. So she sent me a note, over like the Christmas holidays, it’s kind of like a gift. And she was like, I’ve never, like I’ve never in my life been told that you’ve done a good job. I’ve never been appreciated for the work that I’ve done. Like, literally personally or professionally, no one has ever told me you’ve done a good job, you’re doing a great job. And so like just those small little things, and it’s a repeated thing. It’s legit. Like when you’re building a house, you don’t just put one nail and you keep doing it all the time every single day, and finding those small moments where you can share that gratitude. And then when you’re sharing things that people need to improve upon, they know that you’re coming from a place of I want you to get better. It’s not I’m trying to beat you down. I want you to get better. I’m sharing this and compassion, empathy and

Curt Anderson  21:17

just more rhubarb pie right there. So in what you know what you just brought me back, so my teenage years, my father had a wholesale business. And when I was in high school, I would I would go down and help out dad and you know, put he put in insane, crazy hours. And every time I walked out the door, and he and I were he was my total when I asked that question, who was my hero? My total hero worship the ground he walked on. Every day I walked out the door, he would say, Hey, thanks for a great day’s work. Thanks for a great day’s work. He said it every single time and like it was five words. And he probably I don’t know if he thought a thing of it. And I can guarantee you he wasn’t reading like, you know how to books. There was no Internet back in the 80s. Yeah, those words were priceless. And I can’t tell you the confidence that he instilled in me on a regular basis. Thanks for a great day’s work. Thanks for a great day’s work. And that’s all he said. And that’s and I never I never forgot that. I thought that was priceless. And is you were saying that was something I had to share that it just came back to me, Nicole, your thoughts, you are a great communicator, I’m you know, I have a front row seat watching you build your team, our team, talk about how important you know, blue captain obvious, but you know, doing these little extra things. How important is that gratitude and communication level from your perspective.

Nicole Donnelly  22:37

It all ripples down. So that what the beautiful thing I find is like the more that I really truly lean into being showing living gratitude, not just saying it, but like living it and the way that I’m treating people and all of that. Like, the more that I proactively do it, I see other team members doing it with each other. And I can see them saying thank you so much or, and so it’s just you can’t really underestimate the power. And the impact that the choices that you like, as Wesley said, even if you’re not in like a formal leadership position, you still can choose to be a leader, people follow you not because of your title, they follow you because of how you live and the person that you are. And I think like, you know, those little things that you do they they have an impact. So if you’re showing us how you show up matters, if you’re showing up and you’re, you know, not expressing your gratitude and you’re just you know, in a mood, you’re everyone around you is going to be feeling the same way. But if you intentionally take the time to show your gratitude and be specific about it, you know, like we have this slack, we use Slack, we have the Slack channel. That’s our thanks channel. And a lot of people do this, but like we, you know, intentionally will say like, thank you so much for the work that you did on this specific project. Here’s what I loved about it. Here’s what the client thought, This is so great. And it’s like a celebration and everyone on the team can chime in. And the beautiful thing I love about it is when I see other people doing that in the Slack channel, and I see not not just me, but other people leading and they’re stepping up and they’re saying oh my gosh, you know, Powell you knocked out of the park with this project. And here’s what I loved about it. Here’s what the client loved. And so like for me, I just think when we live and act that way it impacts everyone around us and it impacts the way that we serve our clients and all of that you know, and it’s not just it’s just so much bigger than us.

Curt Anderson  24:31

Yeah, not just lip service like actually you know, walking the walk talking to talk and taking it to that next level. Damon How about from your perspective communication leadership, your what you see with your clients how you do with your team? What are your thoughts?

Damon Pistulka  24:45

Yeah, you know, it’s it’s it’s interesting hearing people talk. I grew up a bit different. And growing up on a farm there’s there’s really I mean, I don’t know that I ever heard my parents I I know they said Good job once in a while, but it wasn’t like you’re talking about your dad and you’ve seen it come out. I knew I knew they appreciate it. We’re always loved cared for all that kind of stuff. But it just wasn’t something that was matted. So for me, this has been a learned behavior. I’ve had to learn how to do this. I I’m not a big celebrator as you talked about, Wesley, I don’t you know, because I just wasn’t around that. So as as I started out my engineering career, you know, engineers and technical people Wesleyan understand from being a chemist, that we just think that everybody knows by osmosis that we’re doing this stuff, right. So so for me,

Curt Anderson  25:39

yeah, yeah. Am I wrong?

Damon Pistulka  25:41

I mean, it is you technical people, you kind of do this. So it’s really been, for me a lot of learning to understand how to express as you said, Nicole, intentionally express my gratitude for something. And then also, if you know Kurtzman my wife before, she’s on the opposite end of that spectrum. I mean, and I’m not talking a little bit I’m she’s a lot. I love her dearly. And and it’s so this thing, this thing is come home to me to learn how to express how to be in this thing. And I’m constantly trying to get better at it. But it’s it’s really living, like you said, Nicole living with attentional gratitude, and really feeling it in your heart. Because Because when you feel in your heart, people can feel that. So as you’re talking to him, you don’t necessarily even have to for me, I still say, you know, intentionally, I’m saying thank you. This is why being intentional about it. And actually I posted about today, which was weird. A second. Yeah, I know. Because last week, I took the time I was in a in a client meeting earlier in the week. And then later in the week, I was in the same same place. And I had an opportunity to thank someone, because we’re in a meeting, and they said something that really made me think, and I said, Thanks for saying that in the meeting, because I took what you said the input you said, and I was thinking about it more. And I think we should be doing it that way. Because you helped me realize this. And it was such a great conversation. I was like, Why the hell haven’t I been doing more of this? Because just think how nice that is the feeling I got from I’m like, This is why people talk about living and intentionally living with intentional gratitude, and really being specific about what your thanks, and why things are really helping and why. Just be thankful. I don’t know, I’m going on long ways.

Curt Anderson  27:36

That’s just so powerful. It is it is very powerful. And the more it’s like working out, the more you do it, the more natural it calms. Megan, again, thank you for your comments here. gratitudes make you buoyant buoyancy can overcome any obstacles, you know, because, you know, radical gratitude, gratitude. And as Nicole sang, you know, when you marry that within Modi, now you we can create, you know, I don’t mean to get carried away, but now we can create an unstoppable confidence in our name, because now we’re not getting, you know, caught up on you know, Nicole gross, like my like defensive, like I’m working on like, hey, I want to be less defensive, or be less offended, or, you know, hurt feelings and all these other things. So I think it’s Apollo’s here today. Hey, Paula, is it’s a team effort means it reminds us that we’re all working together. And we’re not alone, especially being remote. Because here’s the thing, last thing, I want to come at you with this, it doesn’t mean that we have to be right. It doesn’t mean that we can’t, you know, disagree. It doesn’t mean that we can’t have different opinions. But the thing is, when we have a common cause and Daymond Nicole, we talk a lot about the saga, if we have a common saga, a common goal, and we’re working towards that goal, and like you know, we’re in a field where like, you know, we want to help people fulfill their dreams. How can we be a dream supporter? So we’re saying let’s go there is that like, you know, hey, we have a difference of opinion. Maybe we flat out just flat out disagree, right? How can we like cherish and just really plunge ourselves into gratitude to get on the other side of those disagreements? Because we’re focused on a cause, how in Australia, any gratitude strategies that you can share with folks to get to the other side.

Wesleyne  29:18

So one of the first things so as everybody was talking, one of the things that kind of popped into my brain which we use within our organization is understanding people’s love language. And so when we saw physical touches the one that I don’t really use in the workplace, but really important, right. So if you think about and so just a quick recap of the five love languages, one is physical touch, acts of service quality time, words of affirmation, words of affirmation, and which 1am I missing? It’ll come back to me. Yeah, how can I forget my time Gifts, right gifts. And so the thing is, when you’re in a place of conflict, if you know how that other person, like, what do they need to pour into their love cup, right? And so I talked about, Oh, that’s good. And so the first thing that you do if there’s a conflict, if you take a beat, everyone never respond in anger, right? Never respond when you’re heated with other person, you just listen, and you say, Okay, let’s take some time. And this, it could be five minutes, it could be a day, but you need to have time to process and cool off. And so what you have to realize is when you’re in a situation of conflict, you are not communicating with that person in the way that they need to be communicated with. So if you the person on your team really values quality time, and you’re in a remote environment, and you’re not making time to have a one on one with them ever at all, you’re only sending them requests through teams, you never pick up the phone and call them. That is a problem for them. So one little thing is going to tip them over the edge. If there’s a person who works, information is really important to them, and they’re only getting negative feedback is never getting any positivity, then that makes them insane. Right? And so how does the other person receive love? And how does that other person naturally communicate? So like I always say, you have to step outside of yourself and realize the person who you’re talking to, and understand what they need. Because when you come back together, if you know that that person, let’s say that they’re big on gifts, right? Maybe you have a handwritten note that you’ve written to them, and you’re like, you know what, I take responsibility for my part, and I want to mend this relationship. So you give them the note first before you say a word, right? Because that is a gift to them. Your handwritten note is a gift to them. So understand what that person needs and that’s what helps calm, those conflictual type conflicting times. Good stuff.

Curt Anderson  31:52

It’s like my third site, my third slice of rhubarb pie right there, Nicole, so that was just okay. Let me pull up a couple of comments here. My dad used to say you get more flies with sugar than salt. Yeah, that has always stuck with me. We’ve got Karen, it’s either no coincidence, coincidences, Damon, you are meant to post that today, merely setting the stage. So again, guys, thank you for everybody. Dan. Bigger says thank you, everyone, for everybody for everything. So thank you, Dan, for everything. So again, if you would, I would love to do you know, out there, drop a note in the chat box. What are you grateful for? You know, we’re at a quest today of radical gratitude, rather a personal business, how we can work strive better together, Nicole, you and I have just put you’ve taken me to a whole new level, all three of you have as far as like learning, trying to diagnose being very intentional, on how to be a better communicator, and how to be understand things better how to understand other people’s point of view, Nicole, what you’ve really helped me is like you and I use the word grace a lot. Okay? Patients, let’s give each other some grace, or thank you for letting me see my other side. You know, let thank you for letting me see a different perspective or point of view, right? Instead of like, Hey, why aren’t you seeing my point of view? Why don’t you see that my way or no way that Tada? It’s like, Alright, wait a minute, like you said, Damon, take a breath, timeout, take a step back. And like, Let’s see another perspective, Nicole, man, you’ve been taking me to a whole new cat, whole new hemisphere, if you will, what are some tactics, some strategies, some gratitude strategies that you would like to share?

Nicole Donnelly  33:27

One of the things that I love to do, there’s lots of things. So I’m a words of affirmation, girl. So I love to write notes to people. And so that’s something that like, if I, I don’t know, just whenever I feel like I want to write, I’ll write a card, and I’ll send it you know, just yesterday for my sister in law, my mother in law, I wrote them a card. And it’s just really, you know, just be really thoughtful about the words that you use, and very specific about what it is that you’re thankful for. Don’t just say, thank you so much for being amazing. But like, I really love this is what I’ve learned from you. I love your example, in this specific way. And this has really taught me XYZ. I loved it. When I when I’m really thoughtful about that. It puts my headspace in just an even greater place of gratitude, because I’m very specific with them. And it makes me think about it more, you know, and it makes me think about how they’ve changed my life and how they’ve helped me what I really am specific. Other thing I love to do is I love to just in the morning, go outside and sit outside. And I just love I’ve just feel so much just sitting there like as David mentioned earlier, it’s really being present in those very simple moments that connects you to the higher power, whatever you believe that really connects you to some higher power that you realize this world is just bigger than you and that you just take that time to just sit and listen to the birds and we’ll just watch the trees and it’s those really simple like that simple thing that just like as Wesley mentioned fills my fills my love cup. So I just feel tremendous love when I do that small thing every morning. And it just kind of like sets the tone for me for the rest of my day to bring that energy and that positivity and gratitude and live it with how I’m acting, treating other people. So for me, those are like two things I love to just write you know, write down write notes, and just be outside and sit in it and not look at my phone, not do anything else. Just just be in that moment. And just savor the flavor

Damon Pistulka  35:41

flavor and flavor.

Curt Anderson  35:42

Were savoring that one to call. That was just pure gold right there. So I, I’m gonna slide gears a little bit Wesleyan, I want to talk about exotic so you know, both, you know, women of faith. You know, Damon, we had, we had a powerhouse and a couple of summers ago, Mary and she came on and she shared we, it’s our obligation to share our God given talents, right. It’s our obligation share our God given talents, Wesleyan, you are a recovering chemist, I absolutely love that about you. And you found your calling into helping people as sale. You know, like, who goes from like being a chemist into like, you’re just as outgoing off the charts extrovert and you just understand consumers, you’re, you know, human behavior, exhaustion, your, your your superpowers in faith, or, you know, however you want to word that, right, whatever somebody believes, I totally respect that. Talk about like being in gratitude as like you bring your superpower to the market. And like, you know, we call ourselves like, how can we help people, you know, dream, being a dream supporter, you’re helping people fulfill their dreams by increasing sales, talk about how you exhaust your superpowers with gratitude and how you help your clients.

Wesleyne  36:57

One of the key things for me, is I tell people, I bring my whole self to work. So my oldest friend who we’ve been friends for 25 years, like she sees the same person that you guys see on LinkedIn. And so for me, when I’m working with clients, that is one of the key things that people are not doing, they are bringing the representative to the world of sales, and they’re bringing the representative to work. And so there are so deeply focused in their brain in their own heads, that they can’t really see what the customer needs, what does the client need? And so when you think about how do I express that true and utter gratitude, and how does that show up in the way that I am in front of the customers, and one of the key things that you have to realize is having a client, a customer, even having a job is a gift, right? And so you have to be grateful that this person is taking time to speak with you to even entertain your product or your service offering. So how do you treat a gift, you treat a gift with care, you prepare for this customer interaction, you make sure that you’re ready to go, you make sure you step into their world, it’s not all about you. Because again, it is a gift. This person who is taking time to work with you to even speak with you is a gift. And so when we think about how do we transition from being so like me centric and self centered, if you will, to be more customer focused and customer centric. And what Nikolas said is one of the key things that I encourage every person that I work with whether we’re doing training or consulting or coaching is you must first spend time with your higher power, then you spend time with yourself. And then you spend time with whoever else you need to if it’s your spouse, or your kids or whatever, because you need to be a whole person. Like if you’re just bringing half and bits and pieces of yourself and you’re exhausted and you have important to yourself before you show up to that customer. They’re only going to get your second or third best and that’s when you get anxious and nervous and you just product dumping start product dumping. You’re not asking the right questions, you’re not listening. So it’s really a cascade of events. That gets you to be the type of salesperson and leader that you want to be.

Curt Anderson  39:14

Again, it’s just whistling How do you do it? I don’t like I need to I need to talk to your mom and if I could be half the parent parents that you had, man, you are just such a gift. I it’s it’s it is so good. And she just she doesn’t so naturally. Nicole, I’m going to slide over to you you and I’ve been using the term dream collisions and how do we come in with radical gratitude? Can you just folk Can you share enlighten everybody? What is What are dream collisions? What are we talking about here? Oh Kurt,

Nicole Donnelly  39:52

this is a beautiful phrase I II that you came up with. This is your you’re amazing. This but dream collisions. I feel like he’ll be able to explain it better than I ever could truthfully. But it’s basically when you’re, you know, whatever your dreams, your aspirations are, personally, professionally and your business is in alignment and can help and support the dreams, wishes wants vision of your clients. So that is like, a dream collision, like what what you offer your talents, your services, your, you know, passions are in direct alignment with what it is your clients need. It’s a beautiful phrase you came up with Kurt?

Curt Anderson  40:33

Well, here’s a perfect example is the West lean. And I was like, we just had this, what two weeks ago, right? We’re trying to create like this, we have a package and we’re just trying to, you know, it just wasn’t fitting, right. You know, and so the thing is, is like, alright, we can chase down this rabbit hole, and maybe put, you know, deliver, you know, half, you know, like you’re saying, not our full selves. And like, you know, let’s chase the revenue. And you know, we’ll figure it out as we go along. And right, wrong or different. I’m not saying that we were right, we took a pause, we call the timeout and said, Hey, wait a minute, is this the best for the manufacturer? Is this the best for us? And if we’re just trying to compare ourselves to somebody else that’s offering this package and we’re trying to fit into this box, right? Now, we’re not gonna you know, it’s like, if everything’s a teeter totter, you know, Damon, when you’re dealing with folks that are trying to sell a business, well, if I’m like, kind of wishy washy, and maybe want to sell my business, you know, like, we’re not going to have a dream collision, because like, I’m going to drive you crazy, because like, I’m not positive that I want to, like, you want somebody that like, Yes, I’m going to sell my business, and I’m here to help. I’m walking you down that path, down that journey, I’m your trusted guide, I’m going to take you to the you know, to the endzone, Wesley and you do it on the sales side, Nicole, you do it on from content marketing side. So like, you know, if we’re off that teeter totter where the clients taken advantage, or, Hey, let’s provide a service that we don’t know a thing about, we’re really not our superpower. Now, we can’t have that dream collision. But boy, when somebody has a problem that needs to be solved. And you know, our God, given talent just really marries that now we have a dream collision. Now magic can happen. So all right, Leslie, and I have we haven’t paid attention to time. Nicole, are we running out? We got time for one more question. All right, let’s, let’s take her home. Okay, let’s get a little bit more challenging. Let’s say like, you know, Watson, we talked about, you know, see, if we find ourselves into a little bit of a challenging situation, you know, we’re here talking more, you know, on a professional basis, you know, none of us are claiming to be like, therapists or what have you. So let’s, we’ll talk on a on a professional side, when we are in that challenging environment, that challenging situation, maybe it’s somebody on our team, somebody’s a client in like, you gave some tactics earlier on, like, hey, there’s, you know, but if we’re in a real difficult, challenging situation, how can we flip the script and really plunge into a gratitude moment when we’re in a really tough moment? Any any thoughts there?

Wesleyne  42:58

Yeah, we, there was actually a client that we worked with a manufacturing client, and they were we were doing their close out meeting and they were not happy. I mean, they were throwing all kinds of darts and daggers. And I mean, it was it was bad. I mean, everybody on the call said it was bad. And what I had to do was what Nicole said, I had to humble myself. And so I was like, Okay, I’ve completely understand. So first, I empathize. I completely understand with the challenges that you’ve had the things that we Yes, we made some missteps take responsibility for what you know, you’ve done wrong. That’s the next thing. have empathy, take responsibility, and then ask them. So what is what what is a good resolution for you? What outcome Do you want to see? What can I do to help you be happy, or at least be content with the work that we’ve done. And so by doing that, what I did was they were at 10. And I was at two, and so you don’t match the energy. If you ever match the end is upset. If you guys are both at 10, then nothing is going to get resolved. Right. So I had to be calm. And again, I was calm, because I spent a lot of time with Jesus that morning. And I was I was good. And so I knew that I could be calm. And so when you have empathy, when you take responsibility, because that’s what people want, they want to know that like, okay, that even if they’re throwing all the daggers at you, you take responsibility for the part you feel most comfortable with. And then you humble yourself and say, What can I do to help resolve this? And if it’s something internally with an employee or a contractor or somebody that you’re working with, in those situations, you have the opportunity to take a moment to step away. And so in those types of environments, you may be a little bit more emotionally connected, because it is an employee or as a contractor, so you may not be able To do views that that 10 may be right at the eight. So you have to take a moment. And I’m a big person on writing things down in journaling and getting it out of your head. Or even for me, I like to talk a lot. So I’ll record myself a voice note, and then I listened back to the voice note, I’m like, Okay, let’s listen, here are the things that we should probably address. So getting it out of your head in some form or fashion, but you have to go back. And I think that’s the key. The key is you don’t just let the bad taste or the conflict fester, you have to go back. And the thing is, again, we’ve been talking a lot about faith, forgiveness. And for me as a person, forgiveness is not for the other person. So I forgive you, I forgive myself, and I choose whether or not I want to reconcile with you. And if it’s an employee or a contractor, you have to do that reconciliation. If it’s a customer, you get to choose to say no, thank you and decide to walk away from the business or you get to choose to say, let’s make this work.

Nicole Donnelly  45:56

Yep. Amen. Sister. dropped the mic. Wow.

Curt Anderson  46:05

I want to I want to read I want to unpack a couple of things in Hey, Diane Byers here today. Diane, thank you for joining us, man. We love Diane. And so Diane, happy Monday, we encourage you to go back in. Thank you for joining us. We’re talking gratitude. So again, guys, if you’re new to Wesleyan, please, please do yourself a favor connect with Wesleyan here on LinkedIn. Connect with Nicole Donnelly, the calls with dmg digital Wesleyan is with transform sales. We’re having a great conversation here. We’re talking about being in radical gratitude. And I’ll tell you, what, two great words we talked about. Nicole, you said you can’t hear it enough is thank you. Another two words that, you know, probably should be said on a daily basis. I’m sorry. You know, and like you said, it takes a lot to say I’m sorry. What can we do right in what you just said, the authenticity coming in a genuine kindness level head and coming into these situations. To call what you and I have been talking about is in this has been a really powerful Damon, you were traveling with them. And they march on Izmir, fixing Patrick’s Day, we had an incredible guest, Tony was on the show. And he’s dropped a bomb on me. And I wish I had this little nugget 2030 years ago. He said, You know what he advises as you take the common challenge. And you separate it. And it’s not me against you. So it’s all or like, it’s not us with different perspectives. We’re on the same team together. But we have a difference of opinion. And we set that challenge aside. And that challenge is our is blocking us from getting into the zone. What do we need to do do together as a team to remove that challenge? To get over that and to be in gratitude or to be in humility? Be authentic and and say I’m sorry? So I absolutely I love what you just said, Nicole? thoughts, comments, anything that you want to piggyback with what what what Wesley just said,

Nicole Donnelly  48:01

oh, yeah, I love what she said about like your energy level. I think that was really insightful about and I think it’s important to just reiterate that like, if you have someone who’s at a 10 Come in, lower. And you know, Kurt and I, we’ve been talking a lot about gentleness, and how persuasive it you are when you’re gentle when you lead with gentleness rather than with just, you know, puffing your chest up and all of that. And it is true. Like if you think about it, when someone comes into a situation, and they approach the situation with real calm, a calmness and a gentleness you pay attention. You really listen more to what it is that they have to say. And I think I love Wesley’s approach. They’re like, when someone’s really frantic like that. If you get frantic, too, it’s only going to make the situation worse. So I think that’s a really, really wonderful advice. And then just to go into yeah, that’s, that’s all I have. That’s all I got. Well,

Curt Anderson  48:58

I mean, we’ve been actually Nicole, we’ve been throwing around the word meek, you know, like Meek is frequently equated with, like, you know, being weak or wimpy or whatever. But like, it’s like, how come you know, being meek, being in humility, or being gentle being kind. And the thing is wrestling like that, like the person if they’re at a 10? You know, if we can have the wherewithal to say, like, hey, wait a minute, what did I contribute? How much did I cause this person to be at a 10? Number one, number two, what’s going on in this person’s personal life? Maybe we need to call a timeout and not talk about business. Maybe their dog is at a vet or maybe a spouse or maybe sickness? Maybe there’s something else going on? Where they’re taking it on on us? So either number one, did you cause the 10? So like, we need to, you know, cause a 10 There you go. We need to take a pause like, Hey, how can I help you defuse this 10? Or B? Is there something going on personally that we need to talk about? Let’s not talk about business for a minute, and how can we I want to be here for you? Or if not, can I connect you with somebody that that could help you? Damon? Dude, what a conversation what any, any comments that you want to chime in here for?

Damon Pistulka  50:06

Not Not really, I mean, it’s just it’s great to be able to learn from you guys. And here’s some of the stuff because it’s we could conflict is always tough I mean when you when you do that and last week I actually had a situation where I really needed to tell a client something that they weren’t going to want to hear. And it wasn’t it wasn’t terribly but I started it. Someone asked me you know who says it start start from a position of love. Start when you’re in a difficult position, start from position love, because I was the guy that used to start on the other side of that and try to convince and all this other crap and it just doesn’t work, right. But when you when you start from that position, love and really try to say, this is this is why i i First of all stated, I said I looked at him and I said, you know, I love you, right? And it’s a client of mine. And first of all, if you knew how freaky that was for me to say that somebody and you know, I love it, you’ve seen what I’ll do and how much I’m committed to helping you. I said, but this is what we’ve got to do. And this is why we got to do it. And it was a different, different thing for me. And, and I even said, I think I even said, I’m gonna give you a virtual hug for this one can just jump up and do that. For him. I probably could but but you know, you never know. Right? You start from that peace of love. And at that point alone. And you start from there. And it just it’s a different thing. It’s a hard conversation, we’re gonna have a hard conversation machine. But I’m gonna let you know. I love you. And you know that because we’ve been around and we’ve done all this stuff. And we’ve we’ve fought through the fights already. And that’s where you start. And and then like you said, Don’t get up to the third attack. too. That’s that’s that’s golden rule right there. That’s so cool that you said that. I love that. Yeah, I love.

Nicole Donnelly  52:16

I was just going to add to that there’s something that I love this book. It’s called the culture code playbook. Really great book anyway, one of the things he says in there, when you have when you’re dealing with difficult situations, you have to give feedback, you start by saying I’m giving you this feedback, because I believe in you. And I know that you can, that you can do it. And I think if you start from that place, and just like it changes, the whole dynamic, as people think of feedback is like, Oh, I’m terrible. I’m doing a bad job. But it really is an opportunity for you to grow. And if someone gives you that feedback, it’s because they know that you’ve got it in you and that you You’re capable. So I love that. David, I’m so curious. So I have one question for you, Damon, what have you noticed the difference? Because you said you used to be very different. And now you’re you lead more from a place of gratitude. Maybe then you used to. And you’ve been both places. So I’m just so curious, like, what have you seen the difference in your relationships in your business? And what you’ve done since you’ve changed, like, you know, what’s what’s, what’s the difference?

Damon Pistulka  53:20

It’s just, it’s weighted. I mean, it’s, you can, the stress that I don’t have anymore because of it. I mean, because honestly, if you’re leading a business, if you’re the CEO of a business, and you’re wound like I used to be wound years ago, you don’t make it very long. I mean it because listen, just look at the average CEO, they’re gonna have heart problems, health problems, divorce, it’s common, right. And I wanted to break the cycle for myself. And that’s, and that’s what I and I think, what we’re figuring out is that break the cycle, to this, and into the whole, you know, work life, home life, they’re separate, keep them apart, blah, blah, blah, you can’t, you got to meld that because we’re all people behind it. And really starting to treat people like people and show them your vision and how and why. And, and really from that place of it’s just the stress is so much less the performance you can get. And the the happiness that you have. And the the relationships that you can build with people is so much more powerful. And I think that’s where everything starts, you know, the beautiful thing, start with great relationships with people. And that’s it. So, you know, if you’re in a manufacturing company and you don’t your people don’t believe in the vision and what you’re doing and you and you don’t believe in them. Nothing’s gonna happen as well as it could when you do. Even if you got mediocre talent tools everything, but if everybody is locked in and they love the person beside them, they’re they’re doing what they’re going to do. They can kill other people in business. Yeah, just you see it day in and day out because they’re going to, they’re going to pick people up, they’re going to work on things are they’re going to they’re gonna put more of their mind and their hearts into what they do and it shows

Curt Anderson  55:24

love it was a Peter Drucker says culture eats strategy all day. So let’s, let’s take it home. I know we could talk all day, I would love to talk West lean. Take us home, parting thoughts, radical gratitude. Daymond gave an example of like, you know, confronting those brutal facts, you know, any in, you know, how do you handle those situations. And again, I we could go on and on and on. But take us home with like, any parting thoughts as far as like, tips, advice, gratitude strategies for folks, as we start quoting out here,

Wesleyne  55:56

I would say be the change that you want to see. So if you would like to receive gratitude, if you want your employees, your clients or customer, if you want them to treat to better if you want them to be more grateful for what you’re doing for them, you need to embody that. So a lot of times we receive the energy that we put out, I actually thought recently, I was like, I really, really, really like every single client that I’m working with. And that has not always been the thing that right, like you don’t always like the people that you’re working with in terms of your customers, you know, ask, and we all know sometimes you just take business because you have to take business, but the type of energy that I’m attracting now, because I’m emitting this kind of energy, so I’m getting it back. So I think that is the key Be the change that you want to see.

Curt Anderson  56:47

Be the change you want to see. Alright, that’s my job number, whatever. Nicole, take us home. Thoughts.

Nicole Donnelly  56:59

I would just to express my gratitude. For each of you for Wesleyan, I love the way that you inspire me every day with your LinkedIn posts. It’s so inspiring to see what what what an impact you’re having, and I just learned so much from you when I read them. And Damon, I’m so grateful for you and the conversations that we’ve had that I’ve just you’ve just taught me so much from those conversations. And Kurt, I can’t tell you I can’t even begin to express to you my deep gratitude for you and the mentor that you are and a wonderful leader that you are so I I’m just so grateful. I’m grateful to be here with such amazing people and to learn from you and man, I can’t even I just think about how much I’ve grown just being able being in your presence and it’s just, it’s just such a blessing. So thank you. Thank you so much.

Curt Anderson  57:48

Well, thank you Nicole and right back at you and so how about Damon let’s we’ll close things out. Man. What an amazing, incredible program today on this very special day if you Diane Katie, some of you guys that came in a little bit late. If you want you know, I don’t know. Should we sing? So it’s David’s birthday today. Oh Nicolson

Damon Pistulka  58:09

you guys don’t need to sing

Nicole Donnelly  58:12

on your birthday cake. We’re gonna bake a birthday cake but another on your birthday cake or another year old two day. Thank you

Curt Anderson  58:25

Damien’s birthday today so guys dropped Damon and no wish Damon a wonderful birthday and Damon just that you only have let’s see me do the math. You have a one 107 or 5758 50 years ago it was what it is. Yeah. Right. So 5050 Dude, you’re like halfway. You’re at the halfway mark. You just passed the ninth hole so you’re on Yeah, you’re right. Yeah. Nine right now so okay, guys Damien’s birthday today. I’m going to extend some gratitude here. Thank you for everybody joining us today. We appreciate you more than you know, we never take this for granted. We know everybody’s super busy. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, your passion, your expertise in the chatbox most of you have been guests on the program at one point in time and if you haven’t, boy, we need to get you on the program. Wesley Thank you. Thank you, my dear friend, I just my admiration, respect for you off the charts, your blessing your gift. Cherish Our friendship, our business relationship. You’re doing amazing work. I love having a front row seat watching what you’re doing. Nicole Nicole has become my business partner. And so Nicole, thank you. My gratitude, respect admiration for you, Damon, I was at Nicole Wessling. I don’t know if you know this. I was at Nicole’s House last week. Two weeks ago. It was the last week or two weeks ago. I met her two daughters. I met her husband we went out to dinner. And so Nicole, thank you for inviting me into your home into your family into your business world. What a gift. Damon my dear friend I’ve been in your home. I’ve hung out with you in one day and I can attest as Rene is a of man is a force of energy Loveland a perfect match for you Damon I don’t know how you got to help me but good for you so tell her but anyway grateful for you guys and I just I just want to thank everybody so this was a great episode thank you guys for coming on Damon any parting thoughts birthday boy anything that you want to share?

Damon Pistulka  1:00:25

No you know someone said this and I forget who it was but live our love laugh and cry every day

Curt Anderson  1:00:36

job to Mike what records on that normally finish? So guys have a great day guys.

Damon Pistulka  1:00:42

They’re on. Awesome day