Owe and deserve

Does your boss owe you a higher pay? Does your client owe you commitment or respect? No, they don’t.
Do you owe your boss respect? No, you don’t.
All you owe is a chance. They have to earn the respect and you have a chance to earn a higher pay and commitment.

Thank you for the Boletus Risotto

Yesterday I went for lunch with my colleagues and besides the other things that we ordered we asked for Boletus Risotto to share all the three of us.
Actually I had fish and it was good. But the Risotto... was great! Even now, drinking my coffee, I can feel the smooth taste on my palate and smell the subtle aroma of the Boletus. It was creamy, it was delicate, it was savoury. It couldn't have been "just right", it was perfectly a fantastic risotto!
The place where we had it is just the closest place to eat to the office, with a pleasant garden, but nothing special. BUT they also serve the best tarator that I have eaten in Bulgaria and I would highly recommend their honey chicken and Diplomat salad.
Today I will go again and ask to meet the cook and thank. He or she must be one of those cooks who care about what they do. Without knowing me, he or she gave me a the great pleasure of the food prepared magnificently.
When was the last time that you had something so good that you want to move out of your way to thank for it? And tell others about it?

Smiling to a twisted mirror

I did not grow up in Bulgaria. I came here when I was 21. There, where I grew up people used to smile to strangers when they meet them on the stairs, when faced in the store or an elevator.

Then I arrived at Sofia airport on a winter day with a soft polypropylene lizard on a wire in my hand (my pet, named Szczurek Jaszczurek), a $200 hat and 2 suitcases. It was in the early 90s and Bulgarians were going through a hard time.

Can you imagine me walking my pet propylene lizard in bright colours, my fancy coat and hat on a muddy winter street of a browny city that doesn't smile?

People thought that I was laughing at them. Some thought that I was crazy.

Today, 15 years later, I still smile at strangers but it is not much easier for them to accept my smile. Recently, at a NETWORKING reception of an HR company that I just heard of that night, I was approached by a woman asking me some specifics with the introduction: "you must be one of the organizers, since you smile all the time"... I guess that some people find my smile foolish, other - irrelevant.

The old guard of the office (he must be 70+) even thinks that I fancy him because I smile to him, so he is encouraged to approach me and ask for a kiss.

But I also believe that this is the right way to approach people, it will brighten someone's day, it will facilitate contact and it makes me feel myself.

Otherwise, after 15 years of smiling to a twisted mirror, I must adapt to local culture and stop smiling...

Are you smiling from the morning, to strangers and vague acquaintances? Is your brand smiling or adapting to local culture?

Inspiration, just like falling in love

It is SO great to be inspired! To have found someone or something that makes you climb mountains, swim oceans, stay up the whole night or work with passion. When wrapped in that passion you don't notice the small bugs, inspiration's driving force keeps your wings open and small obstacles are just a simple step to go further and higher.

There are special people, special places, special brands and products that inspire.

I've met some inspirational people in my life - Andreas, Michael - to name a few... They made me want to go through hardships with devotion and my free will follow them. It is just like falling in love but you fall in love with an idea or cause.

There are brands that inspire, that make you cross borders and drive half a day (to shop in IKEA), to buy a laptop and quit day job (to sit in Starbucks and blog).

There are places that cost you a lot but you keep going there, music that makes your day and you listen to it over and over and over and don't care if someone is laughing at your attempts to sing it.

To have such inspirations you need the ordinary, so that THEY can stand out. But wouldn't it be great if there were more of them, so that you can live a life inspired! Waking up every morning with the wings! Wouldn't it be great to always have this feeling of being in love?

marketing and emotions

The rules of marketing change. They are the rules that we apply to people - do we want them as lovers, friends, acquaintances, or we leave them as noones.

In other words - would I let you in or won't bother.

Do I make you feel special or just take your money?