By: Jeff Alexander

By: Jeff Alexander

 

Perfection! We're all striving for it, but none of us have achieved it. When we go to a restaurant, our expectation is hot food and not too long a wait. When we take our cars to be repaired, we want them fixed right and on time. When our food isn't hot, and the car isn't fixed right, of course we are frustrated.

By: Jeff Alexander 

Before I could certify as a balloon pilot, I had to complete a solo flight. Going solo was one of the toughest things I had ever done because it took me way out of my comfort zone, and until that point in my training I had always had my instructor in the balloon basket to help me if I got into a tough situation. The importance and beauty of flying solo is that it forces you to decide whether you really want to fly or not because once you take off you have to finish the flight by landing. There is no quitting. Ingenious!      

By: Jeff Alexander

When I was in college I remember hearing about a book titled, “Looking Out for Number One.” I never read the book, mostly because I didn’t like the first book I had read by the author, “Winning Through Intimidation” but, the title has always stuck with me; I think it was because the title turned me off. I hadn’t been taught to be so selfish that I should be focused on only me. I figured I needed to be helping others and, along the way, I would also be helping myself. Now, I realize I should have at least considered learning more about looking out for number one.

By: Jeff Alexander

When I was about ten or twelve years old I became very interested in IndyCar racing. This was before racing and many other sports were on TV every weekend. Most races could only be watched on the Wide World of Sports, and they were taped, never live. I believe I first became interested when my Father introduced me to Clint Brawner, a man who built race cars and had a shop not far from my elementary school. I used to go by his shop often to see what they were building. My interest became even greater when I had the opportunity to meet Mario Andretti, a new driver Clint had hired to drive his Indy Cars. I loved to listen to him talk about racing and was always impressed with his confidence.

By: Jeff Alexander

“What were they thinking?” That question comes up a lot these days when we are listening to the news, reading the paper or checking out the internet. Almost every day we hear about well-known or famous people who seem to have everything going for them, but they do crazy or outrageous things. That is when we ask, “What were they thinking?”

I’ve shared this experience with you before, but it can help explain what I mean. Right after I received my pilot’s license to fly hot air balloons, I took some friends flying. The first day was perfect. I had two beautiful landings and even flew back to the take-off field, which seldom happens in ballooning. It felt great to be a balloon pilot!

By: Jeff Alexander

Not long after I learned how to fly a hot air balloon I had the opportunity to fly with an out of state pilot. I have always enjoyed flying with other pilots because I learned early that you could always learn something new from each one. On this particular day we were flying in St. George, Utah, in a ballooning competition where we were trying to fly to a prearranged destination. Immediately after we took off he told me I was the pilot in command and immediately began asking me questions about what I was doing. He wanted to know what my strategy was to get to our goal. I told him I was planning to fly to the southwest until we reached the destination. At this point, he taught me a very powerful lesson. He helped me to understand that if I only focused on the final destination, I would not be prepared for the many things that could happen before I got there. And as a result we might never reach the target destination.

By: Jeff Alexander

For years I have been hearing the term “Value Added.” Consultants and authors tell us to do this to differentiate ourselves from the competition. They tell us that anytime our products become a commodity just add a little extra value, which really means just add another service. So as we’ve asked ourselves what extra services we could offer, our solutions are often services that our competition can easily offer as well. So what do we do?

I have finally determined that to truly differentiate ourselves, we must “Give Value First.” I know that given the competitive environment we live in and the current economic situation, this may seem like a strange concept but think of it this way. When we “Give Value First,” we are taking control of the situation, not reacting to it. Below are a couple of examples that I believe can be used to make a difference.