It is common to want to avoid failure. Most people will opt for comfortable and safe rather than put themselves in a position where they might fail. 

But failure is a shortcut to success. It is not the only shortcut to success, but it is the best shortcut. 

Here are the four reasons you need to fail more often;

1. You won't believe you can create until you have created. Even if your creation is a flop. 
2. You will appreciate success more when it comes if you have experienced a failure. 
3. You learn more from failure than you do success. You try to figure out what happened when you fail but rarely do people try to figure out what happened with a success. 
4. It builds a better story. That story will build influence with others. 

During the discussion about failure in this episode, I share two personal stories of failure. Listen in to find out what happened

After a recent trip to Disneyland, I have been thinking about how to delight repeat customers. 

It is one thing to make sure someone has a great experience the first time they do business with you, but how do you continue to create a great experience for repeat customers?

No one delights the way Disney does, so I asked Jeff Noel how to make sure a returning customer still has a great experience. 

Here are the three points you need to know about creating a great experience for your customers. 

1. All organizations have people, physical resources, and processes. What you do with these three resources will set you apart from others and make sure your customers are delighted. 
2. If you believe it can't be done, it can't. You may be the biggest roadblock to making sure your customers have a great experience. 
3. Find the stereotypes in your industry and use the three resources from point 1 to bust through them.  

Write out one stereotype for your industry. Below this, write People - Physical Resources - Processes. List out how you can use these three resources to bust through the stereotype. 

To learn more from Jeff Noel, you can follow him on Twitter at @JeffNoelMidlife.

Mike Kim had a tremendous speaker line up for his Influence and Impact Conference. Sure, I was one of the speakers, but that is not the only reason it was a great line up.

Mike was deliberate in bringing in a speaker to cover specific aspects of building a personal brand. Val Brown talked about looking great on camera. Michael Hudson gave insight into being a paid consultant. Jennifer McClure gave us a glimpse of the speaker life and how we can do it. Kary Oberbrunner talked about building a business off of a book. I talked about podcasting. Jason Clement talked about design.

Throughout the conference, I jotted down some of the great things the speakers said. On this episode of the show, I share some of my favorite quotes from the conference with you.

Here are where you can find out more about all of the speakers from Influence & Impact.

Mike Kim - website - Twitter -  Facebook - Episode of The Jody Maberry Show

Val Brown- website - Twitter - Facebook - Episode of The Jody Maberry Show

Michael Hudson -website - Twitter - Facebook - Episode of The Jody Maberry Show

Jennifer McClure - website - Twitter

Kary Oberbrunner - website - Twitter - Facebook - Episode of The Jody Maberry Show

Jason Clement - website - Twitter

Click here to hear Mike Kim and I discuss Influence & Impact on his Brand You podcast.

When Mike Conner and Mike Simmons launched their company, Catalyst Sale, they decided to use a podcast as part of their marketing and promotion. 

In this episode of the Jody Maberry Show, Mike and Mike discuss their business, why they chose to use a podcast, and how a podcast can help with sales. 

Catalyst Sale website - catalystsale.com

Catalyst Sale on Twitter - @catalystsale

Catalyst Sale Podcast - Catalyst Sale