Hi everyone, Pat Mussieux here. A little bit of a rant, a little bit of a share today, and as I wait for some of you to join me on this, you’ll see I put in a title here and it’s really what’s on my mind today. Women drivers. Yes, that’s sexist, and it’s intentional because of a few recent experiences; texting and yellow lights.

I’m enjoying sharing with you what I’m reading lately, so I’m just going to take a few minutes to talk about what I am reading. I just got the current issue of Entrepreneur magazine. Great article, “How to Succeed in 2018.” Usually, I read Success Magazine but I finished that one real quick, so I wanted to peek into this one, and I just want to share a little bit of what I pulled out of that segment, “How to Succeed in 2018,” before I get into my topic today on “Women Drivers, Texting, and Yellow Lights” and what does that mean anyway when it comes to business?”

In this article, it’s really interesting because it’s broken down into different segments when you talk about how to succeed in 2018. There is a piece on recruiting, there’s a piece on branding, there’s a piece on marketing, there’s a piece on social media and, of course, I go right to the marketing because I love marketing, and under the marketing segment, the key piece of advice for 2018 is don’t talk profits.

Very interesting article here. At the end of it, what I found interesting was it says, “To be an entrepreneur, you have to be comfortable with tireless, obnoxious self-promotion.” You’ve got to be comfortable with tireless, obnoxious self-promotion. Some people are comfortable with it, that would be me, and some people are not comfortable with it but will do it. “Most people would never dream of doing it. Those people go to work for somebody else,” and that’s the way it should be. “You’re in the business of constantly telling your brand’s story.”

Fascinating information on that, and the second piece, as we get some people joining us here and I’ll move into my topic, but the second piece is Tim Ferriss. He wrote a piece in “How to Succeed in 2018,” and what he’s saying at the end of his segment is, in summary, and as Tony Robbins said to him, “Winter is coming.” And I thought this was a fascinating perspective. “Winter is coming. Everything is cyclical, so make sure you’re prepared to be intelligently greedy.” Interesting wording. “Intelligently greedy when others are fearful. When people are myopically fixated on problems, they often leave opportunities in plain sight.” That was pretty fascinating and Tim has a whole article in here.

Let me get to the topic at hand. Again, I just wanted to share that excerpt from Entrepreneur magazine. I want to get to the topic of women drivers and, as I said at the top of this, yes, I’m sexist. So here’s the thing. I have been working at my desk for the last few weeks, for the most part. Quite happy here, getting a lot of work done; however, I do have some out of office appointments, and so I have been out and around in London more so in the last little while than I have for quite a while, and now tis the season, and here’s what I’m observing. Listen, these are from my experiences, and that’s why I’m talking about women drivers.

In the last five days, in no less than three instances, I’ve just about lost my life because women drivers are not paying attention, and so I wanted to get this message out, and feel free to share this message because this is a matter of life and death. In fact, a week ago, my girlfriend and I were driving. Fortunately, we were in her car and we got rear-ended. We were at a red light and this car just came and slammed right into the back of us. If we’d been in my car, I wouldn’t be here to talk to you, but we were in her beast of a vehicle, so I am here to talk to you. Then two other incidents in parking lots. I’ve had women, and I looked and saw them in the eye, texting while they’re driving and just about taking me out, and I have a little car, so I really didn’t appreciate that.

What I wanted to rant about today is not only the women who are not paying attention because you’re stressed, I know, and overwhelmed, and I appreciate you have a lot on your mind but, seriously, I want to live and I want to stay healthy, and so whether you’re in a parking lot or whether you’re on the freeway, get a grip people. Get a grip. Also, I’ve just about been sideswiped by people running yellow lights. Again, these have been women. I’ve been paying attention. These are women.

So here’s my message and here’s my point to you, and this is for all of you. Get a grip. I know we’re in the middle of the holiday season, I know it’s crazy out there, but we all need to take personal responsibility for who we are, where we’re going, and what we’re doing. Get a grip.

Now with respect to this this beast here, this telephone, my tip to you is to put it in the back seat or put it in the trunk of your car. There’s nothing that important, and listen, even in the last week I’ve been seeing some people on Facebook doing a Facebook Live driving their car. Stop it. I care because you’re running into me, so stop it. Each of us who are on here, and I trust you’re going to share this, we can make a difference by putting our phone in the back seat or in the trunk of the car. Quit texting and driving. Absolutely do not be doing Facebook Live when you’re driving. Pull over if you feel your message is so important and share that with the world or, better yet, wait until you get back to your office like I did. So get a grip.

I’ve got some key points here. I was just getting so fired up after I came back in from my appointments today. Here’s a tip for you. We know that it’s a zoo out there, particularly in parking lots when it comes to pharmacies, post office, shopping centers. I’ve been paying attention to all of this. Use Uber. I’ve been invited to some social events and I decided that, rather than looking around for parking in the downtown area, and usually on a Friday night, I’m using Uber. It will get me there safely, it will get me home safely, and I can even enjoy a glass of wine if I want to. So use Uber.

Number one, get a grip and, if you are taking your own vehicle, put that phone in the back seat or in the trunk of the car.

Second tip is use Uber. It’s very inexpensive. You can sit back and relax, work on your to-do list and text, and do whatever you want, but use Uber to get around, say for the next week at least, until we get through Christmas, and give the Uber driver an opportunity to make some money. So use Uber. There are a lot of benefits. There will be no parking issues, there will be no stress and running through yellow lights, and you can sit back and be the calm, relaxed, happy, ho ho ho person that you want to be, and tis the season to be jolly.

Number three, if you are going to drive, then park far away in the parking lot. There’s no need to get crammed right up to the door, and actually I found a spot today and I took that spot, and I won’t do that again because just trying to back out, there were cars almost clipping my rear end there, and in a hurry. It’s like, slow down. Slow down. So, I’m not going to do that again. I’m going to park far away in the parking lot. That will cause me to get away from the congestion and away from the stress. People aren’t even smiling these days. Come on. Also, when you park far away, then you have some opportunity for exercise because you can walk your way to your destination. So consider those three things.

I’ve been thinking about this since I came back in. All of this translates to the way you’re doing business because, in the words of my former coach, the way you do anything is the way you do everything. Stop and think about all of that type of activity and if any of this resonates with you, and if any of this is speaking to you, then look at the way you’re doing business right now too. There’s a frantic sense around people hurrying to get things done. Learn to be proactive. Calm down. Take a look at what you want to keep doing, take a look at what you need to stop doing, and some of the things that you can keep doing.

We just had a team meeting and we talked about what January is going to look like, what needs to get done now, so I’m not disturbing my team during the holiday season. They need and want time with their family, and really, it’s my responsibility as a leader to be prepared enough to say, “Here’s what we’re going to work on, here’s what will get done, and the rest can wait.” Pause, take a breath, and realize that the way you’re acting out there in the world is what you’re bringing into your business world.

So take my three tips, take them for what they’re worth, hear my voice in your head if you’re out there driving around in the crazy times right now, and recognize these three tips are transferable into the way you do business. Remember, business gets better when you get better. Families get better when you get better. Kids get better when you get better. You’re the leader. Take responsibility, put on the ho ho ho, breathe and calm down, and be your best self.

Best wishes to you as you get out there, and those of you last minute shoppers, pay attention to what’s going on around you because you can save a life, and that’s what this message is all about.

All right, thanks for being here. I’ll be back with more tips sometime in the near future. Bye everyone.