Heather Patterson of Happier Talent Development

Announcer: It’s time to enter the world of real estate in Oahu with Hawaii’s only true real estate radio show, the Team Lally real estate show. Grab a pen and get ready to take notes! For the next full hour, Hawaii’s premier real estate leader, Adrienne Lally and Attilio Leonardi will bring you the latest in real estate news and real world strategies on how they can guarantee to sell your home at a price and deadline you agree to! Or they’ll buy it! Now, here are your hosts, Adrienne and Attilio!
Attilio: Well hey everybody! Welcome to the Team Lally real estate show, home of the guaranteed sold program or we’ll buy it! If you have any questions you can reach us at 799-9596 oh! You know what, your pencil just broke and you’re writing it down, I’ll give you the number again: 799-9596 or on the web at www.teamlally.com. That’s L-a-l-l-y. Hey everybody! So let’s see, what was I doing? I was, I was knitting some socks the other day and this lady came up to me, tapped me on the shoulders and started asking me a bunch of tax and legal questions. And I said those are great questions, but I highly recommend you seek the appropriate licensed professional. And then I said but Mom, what other questions do you have? So, if you hear anything on the show sounds like legal advice, hey, go run that past an attorney, if it sounds like tax advice, go see a CPA! Speaking of which, coming to the, and it’s the end of the year, oh man! That dreaded date, April 15th! Um, hope you guys are getting on your taxes. I’m just going to blow mine off and do like what Willie Nelson did and just go to jail. No, no, no, I think I’m going to pay my taxes, we ought to keep doing the radio show. Right? Can we do the, Steven, can we do the show from, from prison?
Steven: Yeah!
Attilio: Oh, okay!
Steven: We sure can!
Attilio: So in case I don’t pay my taxes uh, in a couple of months uh we might be doing a, the live show from uh, O triple C. No, no, no, we’re not going to do that. Alright, so this is the part where Adrienne comes up with some quotes so uh, I’ll just say the quotes and I’ll raise my voice—(high-pitched voice)—and here we are, we’re going to—(regular voice)—no, no, no. I’m going to keep my voice regular but here’s our quotes, um that I want to share with you, and these are what we call BOLD laws. And this is a training program that’s held uh two times a year in Keller Williams Honolulu so if you’re out there, if you’re in the business community or you’re a realtor that wants to make a change in their production, uh, coming in to the new year and find out what it, you know, what exactly do I need to do, what is the mindset that I need to have to be successful. Highly recommend BOLD! By the way you don’t even have to be a Keller Williams agent you don’t even have to be in the real estate industry to take this class, so we’re, I think we are on, we’re two classes in, we’ve got six more. But they have these things called BOLD laws. By the way, BOLD is an acronym, and it stands for Business Objective Life by Design. Because you can, listen up folks! You can get up in the morning and you’re like ah, I don’t know what I’m going to do today! Or you can be one of those people that gets up in the morning and literally from when your eyes open you’ve got a game plan. Now not talking about getting all busy and distracted in looking at your emails when you get up, but you know, exercising, meditating, but having a planned schedule or a life by design. So here’s, I’m going to, there’s probably about 30 different, what we call BOLD laws, or they could have been, they probably could have been someone’s quotes, but we’re going to share them with you. These are BOLD laws. So here’s one of them: “The purpose of business is to fund the perfect life.” The perfect, the purpose of business is to fund the perfect life. That doesn’t mean, our purpose is just to work all day and not enjoy anything. So that’s the purpose of business. Here’s a, I’m going to give you two more: “Logic makes you think, but emotions make you act.” So if you’re giving somebody a presentation or you’re talking to them, you can explain to them the logical benefits of why they should do it, but nobody ever does anything. Tony Robbins says this all the time. Nobody ever does anything unless you get emotionally engaged and involved with it. You know, that’s the emotions make you work harder, right Steven? And stay longer and do things, you know, work your butt off to make things happen in the beginning. It’s not logic that’s going to keep you uh putting in all the time and energy to make something successful, it’s going to be emotions. So: “Logic makes you think, emotions make you act.” And then here’s the last one for you folks out there: “Complaining equals garbage magnet.” “Complaining equals garbage magnet.” So don’t complain, criticize or condemn! That’s straight out of How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Don’t, you have those friends right, they’re always complaining? You see them at the mall, you duck into the shop, until they walk by. Complaining equals garbage magnet, uh, I coach my son’s 9-year-old soccer team and we adapted it to the 9-year-olds. “Complaining equals burpees.” So if any of the boys start whining about practice or what we’re doing uh, I’ve actually got them programmed so well that I don’t even remind the other kids, the other boys will tell the other boys uh-oh! Complaining equals burpees and then we all as a team do the burpees. So we’ve got some positive peer pressure there to be, be optimistic and I’m starting them off early at age 9. Alright, we’ve got Anthony, is it Anthony? Instead of Duke? Is he like a pinch hitter?
Steven: I think so!
Attilio: Okay. Hey, Anthony, are you there?
Anthony: I’m here, how are you guys?
Attilio: Good, good. Anthony, tell our listeners who you are.
Anthony: I am Anthony Provenzono and 2017 CCIM Chapter President.
Attilio: Alrighty, I thought you were going to say Anthony Robinson. You’re in town to do a seminar.
Anthony: (laughing)
Attilio: No. Anthony, tell uh, I, we have you calling in because uh, coming up uh, uh, this week, um, tomorrow, um, but also it’s an ongoing thing what your guys’ chapter does, so tell us, tell us uh, the event that’s coming up.
Anthony: Well we have a huge, large event, our largest of the year actually um, tomorrow at the Hawaii Convention Center. It starts at 8 o’clock and you guys are speaking on behalf of the residential market and forecasting, getting out your crystal ball so we’re excited to hear you guys. Uh, we’ll also have office, retail, industrial, um, ___ on the economy, all speaking.
Attilio: And real, and you guys changed the, the, the format of it from the year before just uh, what was the reasoning behind that?
Anthony: Just to get off of people getting up there and doing ten to fifteen minute presentations and having everybody’s eyes glass over and start working instead of listening. So we’re doing five minutes. Really get the meat and potatoes in there.
Attilio: Yeah, five-minute presentation does prevent uh, narcolepsy.
Anthony: (laughing)
Attilio: Anyway, um, and then tell us about CCIM, one, what does the acronym stand for and what, in a couple sentences, what’s your guys’ mission statement?
Anthony: Uh, CCIM stands for Certified Commercial Investment Member and I probably, our primary goal is educating those involved in commercial real estate.
Attilio: Okay, awesome. And uh, if they want to get more information what’s a website they can go to?
Anthony: Www.ccimhawaii.org!
Attilio: Okay! Alright, looking forward to that event, thanks for calling in!
Anthony: See you guys tomorrow morning!
Attilio: Okay, thanks, Anthony.
Anthony: Bye.
Attilio: Alright next we’ve got up is uh, Jody. I’m hoping Duke will call back with his property management tip of the week. Maybe I’ll give you his number so you can call him. But uh, Jody are you there?
Jody: I am!
Attilio: Alright, you just rang the doorbell, come in, grab a seat! Would you like something to drink?
Jody: I’m drinking coffee!
Attilio: Okay, here you go! Um, so uh, Jody you’re at the Hawaii Pacific, I mean sorry, I want to say Hawaii Pacific Property Management. All these companies with the word “pacific” in it. Pacific Rim Mortgage. Um, and do you have, what’s your tip of the week? How are you going to edu-mu-cate our listeners this week?
Jody: It’s really, really cool! So, everyone loves properties with O’hana units.
Attilio: Yes.
Jody: But one of the problems in this house is that even if they had intended to potentially rent out the O’hana unit portion, that we could not use the rental income to qualify right?
Attilio: Okay.
Jody: Now we can.
Attilio: Now you can!
Jody: There is a special ___ program and there are stipulations, but there, this program has just been introduced. It’s um, they rolled it out as a pilot. Um, less than two months ago and it seems like it’s going to be sticking around. So it’s super cool, it means you don’t have to be purchasing a legal two-unit and you can offset your qualifications with potential rental income on a, an O’hana unit. So it’s ___ or an O’hana unit.
Attilio: Okay. That’s good news! Especially since they changed the law, yeah, for the accessory building units and now wait. O’hana unit! Accessory dwelling unit, are you considering those things the same thing?
Jody: I do! I consider them the same just as long as there’s a full kitchen in it, um, and I noticed that they do get marketed differently, they don’t have to be attached, but I consider them the same.
Attilio: Gotcha, well that’s good news. Okay! Hey, so um, you know your predictions, I like your prediction about the, like interest rate um, again we’re not going to hold you to it and uh, we’re going to continue like Johnny Carson the great Swami. Uh, but if you’re making a prediction on interest rates, coming into 2017, up, down, sideways, circular?
Jody: I mean it’s definitely upward moving. That I feel strongly about as with the rest of most of the world. But um, you know with everything in with, that Trump is doing it’s so, just out of the blue I mean, he could just, his thing, you know tweeting crazy things that, it’s really hard to say but my gut is that it’s going to rise faster than we are all anticipating.
Attilio: Gotcha, so now’s the time folks! If you’re waiting for a sign, it’s now to go buy a home because it’s only going to be, it’s only going to be more expensive down the road. The cost of the home as well as your ability to qualify.
Jody: Right!
Attilio: Okay, thanks, Jody!
Jody: You’re welcome!
Attilio: Okay! Alright guys so that was uh, Jody Tonga. If you want to get more information uh, first step in buying a home is getting preapproved. You can call them at 488-5510, that’s 488-5510 Check them out online, that’s www.pacrimmtg.com. P-A-C-R-I-M and then another M-T-G dot com. You know what, I think we’re going to bring on uh, let’s bring on Janice! Janice, it always makes me smile when you come on the air because we have that harp music that brings you on. How are you doing today?
Janice: Good, well right now I’m at the building department waiting to pay for somebody’s permit that has been in the system since last May!
Attilio: Alrighty so we—
Janice: Believe it or not.
Attilio: We’ve got you at least for another hour and a half! Just kidding. Um—
Janice: Well actually I’m next! (laughing)
Attilio: You’re next? Okay! Give us that quick tip!
Janice: So the quick tip is just reminding everybody that you still have until June of 2018 left to pay water or I mean, waste water or building permit fees for new ADU’s. And um, recent developments, they are actually now logging in the ADU pre-checks so we can track them and find out where they are and they’ve got somebody assigned to specifically double check the traffic requirements for street width before automatically turning people down.
Attilio: Oh, wow, so—
Janice: So some more are getting approved.
Attilio: Yeah so in, and just to cut to the chase, what kind of savings are we talking about with this uh, deferment of these amounts? It’s not even deferments, they’re just, they’re not, they’re not having to pay them right? How much savings is this, on average?
Janice: It could be as much as $8,000, $9,000. Because your waste water fees were averaging $6,000 and then depending on the size of the accessory dwelling unit or whatever else you were doing you had a building permit fee on top of that.
Attilio: Alright, super awesome. So they should give you a call because now’s the time to do it, right? At least start the process.
Janice: Start now.
Attilio: Okay. Well thanks, Janice!
Janice: Alright.
Attilio: Alrighty! Alrighty everybody that was Janice Myrland with Dream House Drafting. If you want to, if you want to learn how to unravel the complicated process of getting a permit, give her a call! 206-7107, 206-7107. Hey stay with us, after the break we’ve got Heather, she’s going to teach you how to be happier in your work place. Stay with us!
[Music fades to commercials]
Announcer: The Team Lally real estate show continues.
Attilio: Yeah, you guys are all worth it, that’s why we play this music. Anyway! Uh, before we get to our guest in the studio I want to see if David, is David still there? David? David, is David still there? Alright, hey David, are you still there?
David: Yes, I am!
Attilio: You’re as patient as a monk, you know, patience is a virtue, thank you for hanging on there with us.
David: Absolutely.
Attilio: So, David, tell us uh, who you are and uh, what’s the, your company and um, what you’ve got coming up next week Thursday.
David: Absolutely, absolutely! Thank you so much Attilio and Adrienne for having me on the radio show. We really, really appreciate it!
Attilio: Sure!
David: And uh, to introduce our company, my name is David Do and I am the general manager of a brand new business center here in Kapolei. The name of the center is called My Go Center and what we do is we are a business center that offers personal offices for business owners and entrepreneurs. We also offer meeting room rentals, event space rentals for businesses, and uh, we also offer shared co-working space for people to just kind of get out of their home office if they’re distracted at working at home or anybody that’s currently working at busy and noisy coffee shops. Giving them an opportunity to come on down, work at our center, being more productive in less time and uh, more importantly work with like-minded people to really help them grow their business.
Attilio: Yeah, you guys are, I mean it’s kind of like you’re almost creating like a networking opportunity because you’re going to meet other business people.
David: Absolutely! It is definitely a great networking opportunity once you become a member with us and uh, we’re having a really large grand opening event that’s uh next Thursday evening from 6 p.m. here at the center. And uh, we are located at Kapolei Marketplace, between ___ Renting and the new orange ___ so I’m sure a lot of the locals are familiar with us here.
Attilio: Yeah, for those of you guys out in Kapolei, ___Printing, that’s the one that prints the bulleting for St. Jude’s, our church. And uh, and then ___, I’m there every day so that’s how I ran into you guys and introduced myself. So you can go over there and get some stuff printed, you can have a, you know have a meeting and then you can go work out. Very convenient!
David: Yeah, absolutely and I’m glad you were able to stop in yesterday, Attilio and see the center for yourself. What did you think of the center?
Attilio: Awesome! Very versatile place, I was, you know, you, your staff there was like telling me they did a session there with 50 people comfortably and I was like wow! And uh, so real professional! Now what if I want to go in the reverse direction, what if I’m working at home and my kids are driving me nuts, can I leave the kids over there and then go back home?
David: No, we can consider that service later on for more, if it demands but I think that that might be an opportunity later on in the future. (laughing)
Attilio: Okay, I was going to say because I think, you guys might be close to like a Pokémon Go like uh, the kids can go over there, do Pokémon Go because I think there’s a gym nearby. But anyway.
David: There is! Sure, that would be very interesting.
Attilio: Yeah, okay! Well, David, thanks for coming on the show, we uh, probably be out there, hopefully, everybody go out there, grand opening next week Thursday! What time again
David: Uh, next week Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. here at My Go Center in Kapolei. And just to kind of let everybody know that we’re going to have uh, free food, drinks and prizes. And uh, we’re going to be having food catered by ___ Japanese restaurant. That restaurant over at Foodland and uh we’re going to be raffling off a six-month co-working membership. I’m very very excited and I just got confirmation that council member Kimberly Pine will actually be in attendance uh for that event as well.
Attilio: Oh, I’ve got to be there, I’m president of her fan club!
David: Oh, terrific, so I, I expect to see you there, Attilio and hopefully you can get Justine down there and we definitely are excited to invite the whole entire community uh particular with Oahu, anybody that owns a business and uh works from home or at a coffee shop or just wants to see what this business center can do to help them out. We’re here to share the opportunity next week.
Attilio: You’re helping people get more legit! Because they have a professional conference room to meet in. Hey, last uh, last thing, what’s the website they can go to?
David: The website they can go to to uh, RSVP for the event is www.mygocenter.com/events. That‘s m-y-g-o-c-e-n-t-e-r, www.mygocenter.com/events.
Attilio: Alright, thanks, David!
David: Alright, Attilio, thanks again for having me on! I appreciate it!
Attilio: Alright, take care. Alright so next, on with the show! We have uh, Heather here, wait I’ve got to get the, I’ve got to make the, you know, we’ve got to make our show all legitimate here, I’ve got to read the intro, here we go. Oh, yeah, give me the doorbell, let’s invite her in. Oh, come right in! Oh, you know what the, I thought it was a Girl Scout with the Girl Scout cookies! But it’s not, it’s Heather. Uh, our guest today is an expert at speaking, coaching and advising clients to help them develop a happier workplace! Uh, her clients range from mom and pop businesses to large corporations, white collar to blue collar. She has held key HR training roles for the last 10 years of her 20 years in the workforce. Our guest today is the founder and chief happiness officer at Happier Talent Development. Let’s welcome Heather Patterson! Welcome to the show!
Heather: Thanks Attilio, I’m happy to be here!
Attilio: Yeah, alright, so uh, you know local style when we, business people ___, we kind of like to get to know the person a little bit more and then once we get to know you then we talk to business. So are you from Hawaii, uh, if not, how did you get here?
Heather: Sure, I am originally from Baltimore, Maryland outside of Baltimore actually where the corn and cows sort of hang out. And uh, when I was a teenager I moved to the Midwest, more corn, more cows and then to Anchorage and then 7 years ago I landed in Hawaii, so.
Attilio: What brought you to Hawaii? Because you said from Alaska?
Heather: From Anchorage, Alaska, uh, little bit of love, little bit of business opportunity brought me here. And now it’s my, my island home. I’m here to stay.
Attilio: So she was on match.com, a guy was in Hawaii, he’s no longer in the picture—no I’m just kidding! We’re just, I’m just totally making that stuff up, if you want to find the real story just go on her Facebook and go on her past timeline but, um, anyways, so you’re here in Hawaii, uh, when you landed, did you start this business right when you landed or do you, like how did you, how did you segue into what you’re doing today?
Heather: Sure, so uh, in, in Colorado and Anchorage I was selling to HR people and that was in the days when people found jobs in the paper. And then you know, online started coming up and I had this epiphany in my career, I was sort of unhappy, had a few um, bad managers, if you will. Maybe, maybe you’ve had one.
Attilio: Yup! Had a few.
Heather: And, yeah! And so I figured—
Attilio: Steven’s going like this. No, we’ve got good managers.
Heather: And it just occurred to me, I wanted to be purposeful in my career and I wanted to make, I wanted to make a difference for, for the world and we all have to work and I thought if I can help people be happier at work, help the leaders especially create happiness, then I can make a difference in the world and so when I came to Hawaii I was sort of entering the HR field. I worked for a staffing company and then I went to work for a large HR administration from here.
Attilio: And that’s, and then so, and um, you know, the, here’s what the entrepreneurs or the people who, we call them want-repreneurs, you know what a want-repreneur, a want-repreneur is like, man, I hate my job, I want to start my own business and blah, blah, blah but they never do anything.
Heather: Right!
Attilio: So that’s what we call a want-repreneur. They want to, they want to be self-employed and stuff like that, so you, we call that uh, Death Valley or the want-repreneur gap, the gap between the day job and being fully self-employed. How did you, what is your advice or what did, just what did you do to bridge that gap?
Heather: Right, well, so I sought the guidance of some mentors and they said, Heather, you are in a consultancy role, you need to go sit in the HR director’s seat. Literally a week later, I had, I found a role, I mean it just sort of, it willed to me. And I took the opportunity and I ran with it and in the meantime I had gotten a call from some former clients and they say, can you facilitate this event for us? And I said yeah! And they said, okay, well it needs to be legit so what did that mean? Well, I went and set up my business and did all the former paperwork and all of that. As soon as that happened, the, the phone started ringing more and here I am, suddenly having like a side hustle. So I’m working the day to day in the HR director role and then I have this, this side hustle. I’m doing HR consulting and things on the side and um, fast forward 8 months or so and I’m at a point where I have to decide do I want my side hustle to become my full time hustle because I’m, I was having to turn down jobs! I just couldn’t keep the integrity, yeah I couldn’t do both and I thought, well, I really want this. I have limited you know, responsibility and don’t have too many people depending on me and the, the opportunity, I saw the opportunity and I took the leap!
Attilio: So that’s how you bridge the gap from spam ___ to the, to the filet mignon. You know you’ve got, you’ve got to have some Spam ___. See we’re using the local analogies here. You know Spam ___?
Heather: I, I do.
Attilio: Okay.
Heather: I like me some ___.
Attilio: So you, so you’ve got to have the Spam ___ initially to, to bridge the gap so that’s what people think, they’re going to like, you know, like, I’m a rapper and I wrote a song and I got a number one hit and next thing you know I’m rolling in my Cadillac. No! You’ve got to be willing to, to have, eat ___ and you know, top Ramen for all you other people that know what that is. But and you, so you’ve got to be willing to sacrifice, that’s what you did to bridge that gap and burn the candle at both ends!
Heather: Absolutely I said no to a lot of social activities and you know, just the things that everyone is, not everyone, but many people say yes to, I was saying no and building it on the side.
Attilio: Now, the, the, the measure or the metric that you used to, to, you know, that’s a, that’s what you call burning your bridges. Burning your, not burning your bridges, burning your boat. There’s a big difference there!
Heather: Yes! (laughing)
Attilio: Burning the bridges is like you know, the heck with you guys, I’m out of here, and throwing all of your stuff on the desk of your managers, um, burning your boat means you give your notice but you’re professional and you still leave on good standing. But you’re not going back. You have to pay your bills, with your consulting work. So, I had a coach tell me, you know, his metric was, take two of your paychecks, put it on the refrigerator with a magnet, and if you don’t have to cash them, financial you’re good to go with your, with your side thing. What did you, um, were you just like all in, that’s it! Now I’ve got to get more and more of these jobs. Where you had a lot of jobs with good momentum?
Heather: I had uh, one sort of, retainer type client that was you know, it was high engagement and I had a fair amount, a small amount of cash reserves and then the rest was just go! Just hustle and I feel like my sales background really helped me you know, I was able to pull from that.
Attilio: Tony Robbins talks about it, he says, he asked this question 35 years ago. Why is the upper 10% so successful and the other 90% aren’t? And he said it’s, they’ve got to be hungry. You know, why were you so hungry to not you know, when we say an, when you’re an entrepreneur you go from signing your checks to signing them on the front. So you go from W-2 to being a 1099 consultant, um, what, what was you know, take us back again, what was that, what clicked in your head, like, this is what we, Adrienne and I always say this, we’re completely unemployable. We can never work for someone else. When did you make that switch in your head?
Heather: Wow, it, uh, maybe for the, the quote it, it happens slowly and then all at once. Um, you know when, in working for these different firms, there was a, uh, a demand for high, high volume and not a lot of intimacy. And that just doesn’t speak to who I am. I really thrive on intimacy in the relationships that, and the people that I’m working with and I felt like if I’m really true to my mission and true to what I got into this for and making the world a better place, and the world being happier, through happiness at work, then I need to be able to call the, call the shots, be able to say yes to certain work and be able to say no to other work because I’ve already said yes to other things. So uh, it was, again a little at a time and then all at once like okay, now is the time go and just stay true to that.
Attilio: Good! Okay, so let’s talk more about your, your business. Tell us the name of it again.
Heather: The name is Happier Talent Development.
Attilio: Now people are listening right now, they’re like, you know, people uh, we always know about in sales is that, the time for asking for business is in the beginning, in the middle, at the end and sprinkled all throughout. And people are listening right now and they’re hearing the message and they’re like, you know, I need that at my workplace! I want to get ahold of this person. What’s a good number and website to go to?
Heather: Best phone number is 808-352-9290, and the website is www.happiertd.com.
Attilio: Www.happiertd.com. What does TD stand for?
Heather: Talent Development.
Attilio: Oh, okay! Duh! So www.happiertd.com. By the way there’s two things that um, I’m trying to eradicate from the world. People who reverse park and the use of www. Just kidding.
Heather: Ohhhhhh!
Attilio: (laughing) So www.happiertd.com and go to the website, check it out. If you, you know, it’s interesting that you talk about being happier in the workplace because I do a lot of studying um, constant growth you know, 12-week teacher, Keller Williams, it’s what we incorporate in Team Lally. Always reading books, podcasts, webinars, training sessions. And they did surveys in the workplace and they, you know, people would think, oh, top 10, top 10 things that you like about your workplace. Or if you don’t have it that you wish you had like what’s really important to you? And you’d be surprised at what we found in those surveys. Money was not up there at the top. It was about being happy in the workplace.
Heather: Yes. Having good results! And, and having good relationships!
Attilio: Okay, so this is what I learned about taking breaks, you’ve got to leave them hanging, wanting more, it’s kind of like an episode. They’ve always, they have a cliffhanger at the end so we’re going to take a break but when we come back from the break we’re going to be talking with Heather, specially how you can make the workplace happier!
Heather: Alright!
Attilio: Alright, stay with us!
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Announcer: It’s the Team Lally real estate show. Here’s Adrienne and Attilio!
Attilio: Welcome back! So if you’re just tuning in you’re listening to the Team Lally real estate show, home of the guaranteed sold program! Or we’ll buy it! I am not Adrienne but I am Attilio! If you have any questions you can reach us at 799-9596. What’s that number? 799-9596 or on the web at www.teamlally.com. That’s L-a-l-l-y. Well we have Heather Patterson in the studio if you’re just tuning it or you’re coming back because you want to know more. Heather, uh tell us the name of your company again, phone number and website.
Heather: Happier Talent Development, 808-352-9290, www.happiertd.com!
Attilio: And TD stands for Talent Development.
Heather: That’s right!
Attilio: Alright, so we’re going to talk about the, you know, what a lot of uh, people who study workplace environments have found out, is that uh, to have a more productive, profitable, efficient, uh, what is it, employee loyalty, if you have a happy, if your culture in your workplace is one that the underlying foundation is about being happy, it’s good for everybody! So let’s talk about that. So that, you know, I talk about it at uh, Home Depot, people go there to get a drill, but they’re not buying a drill, they want the hole. They don’t sell holes at Home Depot, so they’ve got to go get the drill but what they really want is the hole. People want happier workplaces but how do we do that?
Heather: Well it, it’s, small, intentional steps every single day. I think people a lot of times look for satisfaction, things like gyms, and naptime and day care and all just, massages.
Attilio: Free lunch.
Heather: Yes! And those things are helpful for satisfaction. But it’s the, the little everyday activities that help you be happier at work. That experience that you’re getting.
Attilio: Now is that like, during the break we talked about there’s’ 5 different things that you help companies uh, work with companies on in creating a happier workplace. Is that like, is that one? The small intentional things, is that one of the 5 things?
Heather: Absolutely! Yeah one of the ones that I talk about, uh, with everyone I encounter is what’s called the level 10 good morning.
Attilio: A level 10 good morning. So you mean, the opposite of level 10, let me see if I can describe it. People run into the office, they jam straight through to their cubicles and they don’t talk to each other? Could that be like 1?
Heather: Absolutely! Yes.
Attilio: On that scale.
Heather: That’s a level 1.
Attilio: So talk about, what does 10 look like? Describe, this is radio, so we’ve got to describe it, words for pictures. Describe to us what a level 10 good morning looks like at a workplace.
Heather: Right! Level 10 good morning is where you are showing up, you’re prepared, you open the door, or you walk through the entry way, you greet people, hi, good morning, how are you? How’s it going? And out really engage and that means different things for different people but it’s genuinely engaged and people actually look up and smile and make eye contact and hey, good morning, have a great day, nice to see you!
Attilio: You know, uh, what I usually do is I wait until they get into the kitchen where the coffee maker is and when they have the, when they have the coffee cup, like full, all the way up to the top, then I run behind them and I go “HAAAAHHAHHAHOOOOOH!”
All: (laughing)
Attilio: That’s what I call a level 11 good morning! And so, you know, we have to call 911 a couple of times so we stopped that because of all the third degree burns but uh, anyways, uh so, no, no, no! That’s not a level 10, that’s freaking people out and getting their heart rate, you know, we might have to get a defibrillator in the, in the kitchen. Along with the coffee maker because I have to pick them up off the floor after they have a heart attack. So engaging people! And it’s, now you’re talking like, I call it like the, like the cashier at the grocery store. Hey, how are you doing? They’re not really wanting to know, it’s just more of like a, like a, it’s almost like a robotic greeting. So I’m sure you want them, talk more about engagement after the hey, how are you doing today?
Heather: Right so you certainly want it to be authentic and you want it to be genuine. Ask something sincere, like what do you have going on today, or what’s something you’re looking forward to today? Are you working on something where I can help you? Or assist you and get, help you get results? One of the, one of the key components of the happy workplace is that there’s actual results happening! Um, not just a bunch of people smiling and laughing and having fun together. It’s, it’s very practical in nature.
Attilio: Yeah one of the things we do at our workplace I mean I’m, I’m usually the first one in the office and I kind of run around getting everything going but I, I don’t do it every day but I make sure that there’s either some type of fruit uh, on the, in the main lobby or on the counter where everybody walks into and I do make it a point to say good morning, good morning to everybody because we learned that it’s not just everybody just jamming through the front door, running to their offices and, and hit the ground running. Um, and so okay, that she, we have a level 10 uh good morning uh, what’s another one?
Heather: Another tip I like to give is to have a success list. So, there’s the, the, the, common to do list. And then there’s your success list. I recommend huddling with your, with your team, with the people that you’re working with and talking about the top 3 things that you’re going to get done that day. And they’re in order of priority. Right? And so it really sets you up for success and they’re related to the larger goals that you are uh, trying to achieve.
Attilio: Good! Let’s talk about the tactical application of that, so you’re talking about like, uh, you have a quick meeting, um, people send an email out, like how do people execute on figuring out what their top three things are, as a company together? In the beginning of the day?
Heather: Definitely a quick meeting, a standup. If you are familiar with sports at all, when I say huddle, I mean huddle! Almost to a T, we have the Super Bowl coming this weekend, yeah? And uh, just like a football team huddles on the field, it’s very fast, 5-15 minutes, uh, maybe throw on some good news or something positive to sort of reflect on or start with. Inspirational quote like you guys do with the show. And then get right into your top 3.
Attilio: It’s funny you mention that because we do have uh, we do have 15-minute morning huddles. If you have a team that uh, maybe they’re just, ah, we’re not getting into work that early! Or you don’t want to have it to be this gathering so I’ll share with people what we do at our team. We actually use a Google Hangout uh, which is free and part, free, my favorite word, par la email, uh, par la Gmail. And so we do Google hangouts because I want to make sure people aren’t in their Pikachu pajamas and uh, that they’re up, teeth is brushed, ready to go to work! That’s how we, we come into the atmosphere with the huddles and uh, we do them every morning, they’re 15 minutes.
Heather: Yes, excellent! I love that you are using technology to overcome those differences.
Attilio: Yeah, because no we have some of our team members are uh in other states and other countries so it’s a way for us to virtually come together and still have that high level of communication because we can see you and hear you, not only just hear you.
Heather: Excellent.
Attilio: Alright so, we’ve got uh, level 10 good morning, we’ve got uh, huddles to figure out what’s, prioritize top 3 things to get done that day. You mean we don’t want to just randomly come in and jump all over the place to different things and never even get anything, really one thing completed, we’ll just be jumping around, we don’t want to do that?
Heather: No way!
Attilio: Okay, alright so, now there’s 5 things! Here’s the deal folks, she’s going to give you the third one and then we’re going to tell you about the fourth and the fifth one here in a little bit but tell us about the third thing.
Heather: Third thing I like to, uh, mention is to celebrate your success, celebrate those wins, those figuring it out, those getting unstuck. We have wins that are monumental that take a lot of time to get there, but then we also have those everyday wins. And, and they’re equally important to celebrate along the way.
Attilio: Yeah, we always uh, I think at our team meetings, we always, if anybody has any wow moments, um, well one of the things we do at our team meetings is we do have a wheel of fortune and on the, the spots on the wheel, when the thing lands on it could be um, anything from gift cards to different denominations of money, um, we do have some fun ones in there like bankrupt or lose a turn, just to keep it, you know, realistic and fun! And put some real life chance in there, but um, um, so every time a transaction is open, every time we open an escrow, that person gets a wheel spin, um which is typically a sales person and then we have in a purple bag the names of all the administrative people. So they’ll pull an administrative person’s name and that person along with them will win whatever they win on the wheel.
Heather: Cool, sounds like a fun game!
Attilio: Yeah, back of the house, so that’s how we celebrate those wins and we do like, if somebody, anything! And we, we, even in the morning huddles, hey, I just had a baby! Or, my baby just went off to college. Uh, people will share those things too. Alright, so, we’re going to leave them wanting more, you don’t get the four and the five uh, what the, how can they get the four and the five? Could they call you up and get a free consultation? Initial consultation?
Heather: Absolutely! I would love that, I would love to, to have those conversations, please!
Attilio: Yeah, okay, so talk, you know, what about some stories in the workplace? What um, any funny stories or workplace uh, experiences that you’ve gone through that you want to share with our listeners?
Heather: You know I, uh, I was thinking about this, they, it, it, it happens regularly. Where I will be facilitating a training or a retreat, a workshop, and having no prior knowledge, something will come up that’s happening in that team that you know, they’re, they’re experiencing and I didn’t know about it prior. Um, things like, gossip or uh, maybe, I had an instance once where there was a, um, someone guilty of bringing a smelly sandwich to work. And you know, these, these conversations just organically come up and then people start, hmm, you know, doing this, what I call the guilty giggles and it, it’s funny because it really creates that safe place for people to sort of air their stuff and um, for us to really connect and, and get to the heart of things. And really address the things that are bothering, or wrong if you will about that workplace and then we can work together to be happier! Yeah!
Attilio: I think what, you know, um, one of my favorite uh, TED, TED speakers is uh Simon ___ and I, I—
Heather: He’s great!
Attilio: You’ve read his stuff or know of him and he talks about uh, the one, the one book that I think I’ve read it, I think I’ve read it 2 or 3 times but it was Leaders Eat Last.
Heather: Yes!
Attilio: And uh he talked about uh, I don’t know if it was in that book or one of his TED talks, I’ve always been a huge fan so I always come across his information but he talked about, you’ve got to have an environment, you, let’s call it the smelly sandwich, you’ve got to have an environment where people are comfortable bringing things up.
Heather: Absolutely!
Attilio: Because you don’t, you know, if you have a culture where, or an atmosphere or team where everybody is just, agreeable and yes, and then we have that what we call uh, what’s, I think what the phrase is, it’s something stinky in Denmark, is when you have the back channel communication that is not brought to the whole group and it, I, to me I mean I’ve been in workplaces like that. It festers.
Heather: Absolutely! One of the most popular conversations I have with my, my groups, my clients and their teams is the conversation of conflict. And what is it, and what can I do to address it when, it’s not a matter of if, but when it comes up.
Attilio: So describe to us, you know, have, I’m an entrepreneur, I’m a manager, I’m a CEO or whatever and I want you to, to come in and, and help. Here’s, here’s the, I’m looking at the base foundation. Even the best teams uh, we, as a team, we’re actually reading The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by____ I think is the name.
Heather: Yes.
Attilio: And um, anyway. Uh, I got so excited about it I just started to, to rapping and playing music by FloRida. But anyway um, anyway, um, what uh, what, oh the totally, FloRida totally threw me off my train of thought, what was I going to say?
Heather: You’re reading ___. 5 Dysfunctions of a Team.
Attilio: Oh yeah! So this is what he says! This is what he says! Is that um, you’ve got to um, create an atmosphere where people, no, it wasn’t, it wasn’t, we already talked about, oh! Here it is! Teams are made up of human beings. And by the simple nature that we all have our different personalities, the base foundation of all teams and workplaces is going to be dysfunctional.
Heather: Yes, absolutely! We’re all dysfunctional.
Attilio: Yeah!
Heather: To a certain extent!
Attilio: Our church groups, our family groups, our Boy Scout troops, all groups where you bring a bunch of human beings with free will and different personalities, your baseline is dysfunctionality. So when you go into these workplaces, even the best of them, uh, what’s the first, what’s like the first step for a thing that you go through with them? You just sit in at a meeting or describe that for us. 
Heather: You know my process is, uh, pretty organic, it doesn’t follow a super strict structure, it really allows me to come alongside that business leader or department manager. We talk about what is the current state of the team, how would they describe it? How would those team members describe it? Occasionally it’s uh, a good idea for me to talk to those team members as well or issue some sort of survey depending on the size of the, of the team, and then we talk about desired state, so current state and desired state and work together to develop a plan that is specific to that group. That fits the culture of that group because everybody has their own groups and their own strategies and ways that are going to work for them that may not work uh, may work from one team and not for, and not for another.
Attilio: Okay, great. Alright, so, Heather I’m, you know what, I’m going to bring Brooks on, he’s going to be talking about his coming-soon properties but in the meantime, stay with us, um, again, uh, I want to thank you for being on the show but after we’re done with Brooks, if the other agents don’t call in I have a couple more questions for you. But real quick, what’s the number and a website that they can go to, because they want to, I know people are listening right now that are like, I’ve got to call this lady! Our workplace is so grumpy!
Heather: Yes, I’d love to talk to you! Call me at 808-352-9290, or feel free to head over to the site, book a consultation there, www.happiertd.com.
Attilio: Hey, Brooks, are you there?
Brooks: I am! And I’m happy!
Attilio: You’re happy? Alright, we like, we like Brooks, Brooks is always happy! Hey, speaking of being happy, what, what, what do you want to share with us today?
Brooks: I have a great story but I’ll make it short. Uh, a very sizeable townhome condo unit in ___ at the ___ development and here’s the exciting part of it. This particular unit is oriented so nicely on this development that it has the best views! In the entire—well I’m going to say in my opinion, the best view in the entire development. But it’s condition, we’re going to price it not according to the lot per se, as it was just sold, ___, we’re going to price it according to its position, meaning the contract is up, their listing is up, first time home buyers who have the handyman ability. This is going to be your unit! And you can fix it up and put in the things that you want that make you happy, we’re going to price accordingly. It’s going to be an awesome unit to come see, and we’re going live probably in less than two weeks so, I’m looking forward to putting this on the market.
Attilio: Alright, awesome, thanks, Brooks!
Brooks: Thank you, I’ll see ya!
Attilio: Alrighty! Hey, so if you want to get ahold of any of our coming soon inventory, especially in a, real estate market right now that’s real tight on inventory and you’re tired of competing with those other buyers, work with a real estate team that’s got inventory, call us! 799-9596, 799-9596. We’ve got, a couple more minutes in the show, we still have Heather Patterson, tell me the name of your company again.
Heather: Happier Talent Development.
Attilio: Happier Talent Development and I’m in an elevator and the, the, the building is only 3 stories tall. What’s that elevator pitch?
Heather: I help you be happier at work!
Attilio: Be happier at work! And studies have proven, by the way, if you preface any statement with studies have been proven, it is a fact, whatever you say after that.
Heather: (laughing)
Attilio: Studies have been proven that if you leave eat large burritos, your coworkers will not be happy with you at the end of the day. Studies have proven this! Anyway, no, studies have proven that if you have a happier workplace, you, it’s a much more productive and profitable business.
Heather: Absolutely!
Attilio: Yup, that’s, that is a fact! Okay, forget about the fact that you guys give out free burritos for lunch. But um, so, um, you know, the, the, when you, so your initial consultation, you come to their workplace, they come to your office, what’s that look like?
Heather: I usually come to their workplace or we find a, you know, a meeting area that works for the both of us.
Attilio: Okay, you know this, this show also uh, goes out on, goes out on uh, iHeart media so people are listening to it over the internet through live streaming, people listen to it on the other island. Would you go to another island?
Heather: Absolutely and I love going to neighbor islands for sure.
Attilio: Yes. Okay. Alrighty, so you know, um, I think you’re working with our, our agent leadership uh, group, uh, you’re helping us, uh with Kevin ___, Keller Williams Honolulu and so, you’ve given us, is this book on the list? Are we, no I think it’s a, as a group we’re reading this book. That uh, and have you ever, you’ve probably read this book?
Heather: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, yes, it’s a, kind of cornerstone of leadership development if you ask me. John Maxwell.
Attilio: Yeah, John Maxwell’s been in the business, I don’t know, 30+ years and he’s always doing coaching and teaching and talking about um, leadership and so I wanted to, there’s 20, 21 laws, is that right? Yup, 21 Irrefutable Laws. He just came out with a workbook, I highly recommend that if you have a leadership group in your organization that whether it’s a church, Boy Scout troop or a profitable business or non-profit, you guys get this book and take uh, 13, 21 weeks! I can do math! Take 21 weeks to read one chapter a week, that’s what we’re doing with our leadership group. So I want to share with you guys uh, law, uh, chapter #2 is the law of influence. “The true measure of leadership is influence; nothing more, nothing less.” Okay? And, and how he validates this and I kind of skipped towards the end of it, he talks about these myths and one of them is there’s the, the managing myth and I don’t know if you’re familiar with it, the difference between leading and managing?
Heather: Yes.
Attilio: Yeah. So it, tell us. How do you define it, the difference between leading and managing?
Heather: To quickly define an uh, a manager says go! And a leader says, let’s go!
Attilio: Yes, so managers are going to maintain the status quo, but a leader’s going to move the needle and create an influence to get people to change direction to make major improvements uh in an organization. Then he talks about the entrepreneur myth. A lot of people think, you know, some entrepreneurs saw something that they were going to make profitable and that automatically made them a good leader. Not true!
Heather: No, definitely not true!
Attilio: And knowing is, knowing is not enough either because there’s a lot of educated people out there that couldn’t influence a tree! And uh, there’s a couple more of there, but you’ve got to get book if you want the rest.
Heather: Yeah, it’s great.
Attilio: Alright, Heather, thanks so much for being on the show!
Heather: Thank you!
Attilio: And thank you to our listeners and thank you to our sponsors um, Bradley Mariame with AllState insurance; Jody Tonga and Derek Tonga, Pacific Rim Mortgage; Nathan Baker with Pillar to Post Home Inspection; Ben and Tony with Triple A Roofers; Janice Myrland with Dream House Drafting; John Speed with Kilauea Pest Control; Duke Kimhan with Hawaii Pacific Property Management; and if you want to get ahold of any of our sponsors just go to www.teamlally.com. We also want to give a big thank you to Steven, our producer here in the studio, chi-hoo! Make sure to tune in next week, we’re going to have an awesome guest talking about something that’ll change your life forever! This is the Team Lally real setae show, home of the guaranteed SOLD PROGRAM! If we can’t sell your home at the agreed upon price and your terms, we’ll have it bought for cash! THANKS AND ALOHA!