Bradley Smith: braaap

Showing posts with label braaap. Show all posts

Monday, September 1, 2014

Spirit

George Carlin's wife died early in 2008 and George followed her, dying in July 2008. It is ironic George Carlin - comedian of the 70's and 80's - could write something so very eloquent and so very appropriate.

An observation by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.

We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbour. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less.

We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less. These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.
It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete. Remember to spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever. Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side. Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent. Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

And always remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by those moments that take our breath away.
- George Carlin

---------------------------------------------

I share George's thoughts to inspire us to build capacity as human beings.

Create something that no one can take.

Build something that no one can touch,

something that can't be measured,

something more important than any circumstance,

something more powerful than time or money,

something that makes your time more valuable and your money more impactful,

something that inspires people more than anything on earth.

That thing is SPIRIT

Build spirit.

Define spirit;

Spirit is heart and soul

Comfort

Bandwidth

Energy

Attention

Care

Compassion

Power

If you have a million dollars and no spirit, you're poor.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.” – Peter Pan

One day a Martian visited Earth. He came here to visit the leaders of the world. He asked them to show him all the weapons of mass destruction that earth had created.

In the first building was enough guns to take over a country at one time. The Martian was amazed.

They then moved to an even bigger shed and showed the Martian all their nuclear bombs. The room was filled from bottom to top. Just one of those bombs is enough to take out a whole country. The Martian was amazed again at all this weaponry...

They then moved on to the biggest shed of them all..

The Martian looked on anxiously..

He could not believe there was something more devastating than all those guns and bombs.

They opened the door and there in the middle of the shed was a box on a table. He was very confused. As they walked over to the table they told him to open the box but to be very careful as this was the biggest killer of them all.
He nervously opened the box and all that was in it was a seed.

Looking even more confused, he asked how that was even possible to be more devastating than the previous sheds.

The leaders of the world looked at him and told him, “This is the 'seed of doubt'. It takes peoples dreams, lives, families and kills them from the inside out and is the biggest killer in the world today.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

What a powerful story.

The opposite to doubt is faith.

Faith is confidence or trust in a person or a thing or it could be defined as belief that is not based on proof.

Bertrand Russell said it best:

"Where there is evidence, no one speaks of 'faith'. We do not speak of faith that two and two are four or that the earth is round. We only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence."

“When we wish to substitute emotion for evidence”

It’s so true.

It’s our job as growth people to have faith in something that does not yet exist in our physical world. There is no tangible evidence of the vision you hold in your sub-conscious mind, only the emotion we attach to it.

I’m sure you can dig deep enough to find a number of times in your life that you have had faith in your vision, so much faith that it had emotion attached to it, it moved you, it drove you to action, you created, you made it real, through the faith in your vision, your self and your world.

So the first part of my challenge to you is think about times that you have seen a thought turn into reality, you’ve seen your vision play out in real life, you’ve created the picture in your sub-conscious mind and made it real. Start small, build faith in yourself and build confidence.

Then get deliberate about the thoughts you feed your self, get disciplined, guard your thoughts, create positive thoughts and if you’re in a habit of negativity or your constantly creating thoughts that don’t serve you start taking action to break the cycle.

Motion creates emotion.

Put your headphones on and run.

Move.

Create energy in your body and chant to yourself a positive war cry, or your 5 “I AM” words (see my blog about Mums 5 “I am” power word lessons)

Move.
Move.
Move.

The human body can not produce negative emotions if you run, smile and chant at the same time. Out there I know, but try it.

If you want to know some of the chants I use email grow@dirb.com.au

- Brad

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Go Straight Ahead

Ahhhh so do I go left or do I go straight?

This sign sums up how most business advisors make me feel.

They give you a template or an instruction manual, you learn a new idea and it fills us business owners with hope.

If you want to learn the stories and strategies that we have used to grow, not just get an idea but hear where we messed up, what cost us, and what rocketed us, if you want to learn from someone who is in the trenches beside you, someone one out there swinging the bat with you then my Encore package is a great start.

Log on to hear how I grew my company to become 4x Australian Retail Business of the Year.

GET ACCESS TO ENCORE

Friday, June 13, 2014

Lead Generation, Social Media and Experience

Here's a quick 30 second Quick Question from the Westpac Business Innovation Forum 2014.

It's on lead generation, social media and customer experience.

braaaaaaaap

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Selling Sucks

This is a blog I wrote back in 2009, just came across it on an old blog site so thought i'd chuck it up here before deleting it...

The best sales man in the world knows that education builds rapport with a customer and selling breaks rapport with a customer.

To gain respect from a customer, ask them questions to find what is most relevant to them, find out what their needs are and then educate them...

To lose respect from a customer, push products on to them and shamelessly tell them about a product.

The best sales people in the world ssk questions and educate their customers so the customer leaves being the big winner!

The customer must always leave feeling like the big winner.

What are your thoughts on this idea?

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Tales of a Travelling Bucket Salesman

Tales of a Travelling Bucket Salesman

travelling bucket salesman (trăv′əl bŭk′ĭtˈseɪlzmən)

n, pl -men

1. (Commerce) Also called: saleswoman (fem), salesgirl (fem) or saleslady (fem)a person who sells spares products or services with a bucket upsell (motorcycles with a spares bucket). Gender-neutral form: salesperson

For example: Every braaap Motorcycle is sold with a "Spares Bucket". We are just as much in the business of bucket sales as we are Motorcycles.

This April we had the opportunity to be one of the only western brands to exhibit at the worlds largest trade fair, in China where we launched our new range of motorcycles.

44 countries enquired about distributing braaap in their region, it was a busy week.

But we had some fun along the way... below are some pics from the trip... Enjoy

The first challenge is getting to the airport. Had to drop a bike off on the way. LOL

A Travelling Bucket Salesman never goes anywhere without his;
1.Ogio Bag
2. His lucky shoes.

Our Ogio bags were full, as always.

Toby flew from Launceston to Melbourne to Singapore to Guangzhou China, dropped of a few bags of motorcycle parts (yep so much prototyping going on that we had to bring it in our bags, NO TIME to ship) then jumped on a flight to Bangkok, picked up a motorcycle, dismantled it into pieces, put it in his bag then flew back to china.

I think he had around 100kg of luggage. LOL

We went window shopping,

Question: Why are all the bikes in china the same?????

Hope we can shake this up!

Our Prototypes weren't finished, The engineers and us worked round the clock for almost 3 days putting final touches on our new range of motorcycles.

You know just minor things like, exhaust pipes, seats, oil coolers, fitting an engine in the chassis LOL

a China custom, this dude made a cafe racer ute. #genius

Hows our new muffler!!! I want to frame one it's that nice.

Ok so some behind the scenes making shit happen stuff.

We didn't have a seat for the new Superlite Street Fighter, so we made one.

hmmm hack saw, foam, plastics, glue, staple gun, how hard could it be????

Our new bike, not yet released, hence I'm making the pic small, she is top secret.

44 countries enquired about bringing braaap to their region... So pumped!

Last minute sticker kit.

Ohh I messed the seat up so we got one of the crew to angle grind some plastic out of a UTC roof and use it as a base for our seat hahaha #Improv

Staple diet, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

"Have never been sick while travelling" #vego

Tobe's new office.

Working hard? or Hardly working?

You may already know but we have an exciting new partnership and now have 50 staff in China.

Not sure why they put this in our office? Not sure what it means but we thought it was a compliment hahah #QualityRoot

They sent a truck waaay too small for all our stuff, but it' China, you do what you want, throw it on the roof if you need.

***Please note: I may not look like I'm working too hard here, but this was about the maximum distance wifi would travel so I had to sit on this bike and keep instagram up to date. LOL

James and Myself shaking hands.

James is our ownership partner in the factory and brands we manufacture.

In the back row; Tobe and a few of the engineering, mechanical and management team.

yeaaaah China, 3 up. 80km/hr

Bro, are you busking or sleeping?

This guy has mastered busking.

He didn't look too far from a normal guy, didn't look like a homeless person, maybe a budding entrepreneur?

Go to the busiest street Ive ever seen (Beijing Road, Guanagzhou) and lay in the middle of the busiest mall, throw a hat down, have a nap, wake up with some money.

#makemoneywhileyousleep

My sister Sheridan came along, engaged boss mode and although official numbers aren't in yet I'd say she generated the most leads. She probably has already claimed the prize haha

Tobe tweaking our stand. #luckyshoes. #windsorsmiths

Some new bikes, sorry for teasing you, pics will be released soon enough in your country.

This is cool. Some genius worked out he could build an electric scooter that goes 80km/hr for 80km and then in 8 hours it fully solar chargers itself. #thefuture

Ya never know when you might need a fold up motorcycle. LOL WTF China

So if you're a Chinese jet ski company what questions do you ask at your annual growth strategy session?

Question #1 How can we expand our market?

Answer: Well we are only on the water at the moment, what if we were also on the land????

What if we put wheels on our jet ski????

Genius, give that guy a pay rise.

and thats why there is now a jet ski that is also a 4 wheeled motorcycle. hahaha

This is cool, some blokes from the Netherlands built an old school flat tracker.

They also wear white lab coats all day so I'm guessing they know their shit......

braaap Superlite Street Fighter.

I had to hail a taxi #focus. #quickandthedead

Soooooo many people, mind blowing how well they run this event.

Big news coming from our Japanese partners "Daytona Engines"

#cubiccentimetres

One of the biggest manufacturers at the Trade Fair have this as their slogan.

Fucking genius Fellas!

Product Innovation, Marketing, Strategy and Systems are the key to future growth in our competitive industry.

Based on the money we spent on our stand, at a guess I'd say these guys spent maybe $200,000 on the trade fair.

Hot tip for Chinese marketers: think of your slogan then ask someone who speaks english their thoughts.

It blows your mind how they could balls this up so badly, they are a big company.

or maybe you like the slogan and I'm wrong?

Met the Queen, Lady of few words but I think she likes our new bikes.

Shez got her dance on.

I had some serious thinking to do so I called up a mate. #Einstein

Who knew Rossi now rode for Ferrari??? hahaha ohhhh China!

Sheridan and I gave china a little "dream big" note.

Why, how? why why why do the bins get wet spots of a night? all of them were like this???

We will be recruiting our 2015 race team from the streets of China. This 3 wheeled motorcycle taxi driver set a lap record getting us home. Some near miss experiences kept the adrenalin flowing haha

We spoke about loosing a wheel to make it 2 wheeled and shortening the wheel base so he qualifies for the World Title bike specs, he declined the sponsorship offer but offered to coach our team on the "aggressive pass" which he specialised at.

I love how they carry boxes in china, is this method used anywhere else in the world????

Frigging Awesome!

Sheridan missed Easter so we made up for it with a chocolate feast at the China Bakery House

OMFG best bakeries on the planet, China Wins braaap pastry of the year award.

Choose your veggies before you eat, on the other side you choose your fish, chook, any animal you desire... its like a pet shop. Im Vego though........