I’d love to share a story which demonstrates well the payoff we usually get when being brave and stepping outside our comfort zone…its “living juicy” and has always served me well.
Way back in 1995, I was a slim 25 year old running an exclusive 6 room guest house in the Margaret River Wine Region of Western Australia. One particular weekend we were approaching the annual Margaret River Wine Festival and the guest house was fully booked for both nights of the weekend – most accommodation in the region was. The main owner of the guest house rang me a few days before the weekend to ensure we were fully booked and indeed that we were holding deposits to secure all bookings. We were except for 2 rooms for 2 nights. I cant recall why and remember being a little nervous – but then again who was going to cancel their precious accommodation for THE Margaret River Wine Festival !!
Well Murphys Law kicked in and yes I received a call from the room that hadn’t paid a deposit and they were cancelling both rooms for both nights !! OMG, it was Thursday – I was never going to resell those rooms at such late notice and this was way before LASTMINUTE.COM!!
Well Murphys Law kicked in and yes I received a call from the room that hadn’t paid a deposit and they were cancelling both rooms for both nights !! OMG, it was Thursday – I was never going to resell those rooms at such late notice and this was way before LASTMINUTE.COM!!
I was, as we say in Australia, “Up s__t creek without a paddle…” What was I going to do, I was definatley going to get my rear end kicked big time by 3 unhappy owners and needed a plan to rebook those rooms fast. After implementing a number of strategies immediately which I knew would probably not result in reselling the rooms, I came up with a radical idea I just thought was worth a try…to phone Janet Holmes a Court in Perth (Australias wealthiest woman at the time) and see if she wanted to book the rooms ! Of course, I didn’t know her nor did I have any contacts to her. But there was a bit of logic in my idea...
One of the exclusive events for the festival was a “Winemakers” dinner which this year was to be held at Vasse Felix Winery – the regions first winery and owned by Australias Wealth “A” Lister” Janet Holmes a Court. I had her set in my sights some time earlier as a prospect as we were heavily targeting the corporate retreats market where firms booked out the entire lodge midweek for a few days – it was big $$ and I knew her company had executive retreats and wanted a way to get her at the guesthouse to “instantly fall in love with it” and choose us as her preferred future venue – we were practically neighbours with her winery Vasse Felix and our lodge was similar in building materials / vibe so I believed she would love it.
So sitting there with my empty rooms I wondered – did Janet have plans to come down to the prestigious winemakers dinner to be held in a couple of days at HER winery Vasse Felix, and if so – did she have accommodation booked ?.
So I got out the fat old white pages and looked up her company number. I came up with the words I would use if I got through, practiced it a few times until I was ready and then with my “script” in front of me dialed the numbers… it was ringing - my adrenalin spiked ...then a switchboard lady answered….blah, blah “Yes I’m calling for Janet please” I said (as if I was a personal friend !)…”Hold the line please” was the answer…my adrenalin spiked even more as I got through – was the next person going to be Janet herself ? “Janet Holmes a Courts office…” was the answer “Yes, I’m calling for Janet please” I said again in the personal friend tone that seemed to work before “May I say who is calling?” was the response “Its Kallista Bolton” I replied !…”one moment please” the secretary said !! OMG the next person was definatley going to be JANET !! …about 30 seconds passed then the secretary came back to me…”Mrs Holmes a Court is in a meeting, can I tell her what it is about”….so I reeled off my speel – very fast….it was a clear and assertive message that I had a last minute cancellation of 2 rooms for 2 nights for the wine festival weekend, that I wondered if Janet had plans to come to the special dinner at her winery ? and if so did she already have accommodation booked ? and if not that I was sure she would love my guesthouse because it was very private and felt a lot like Vasse Felix !!! (which I knew from my research was a favourite of hers in her business empire). “Ok”, said the secretary, “I will pass the information on to Mrs Holmes a Court and let you know.”
I put down the phone, with an afterglow of adrenalin, thinking, well at least I gave it my best shot, and rated my chances of getting a call back at about 12%. About 30 minutes passed and the lodge phone rang. “Hello Kallista, this is Janet Homes a Courts secretary (I forget her name)” “ah yes” I replied ready for the polite knock back…thinking how nice of her to at least call… then was completely shocked to hear the next words…”Mrs Holmes a Court thinks it’s a great idea and she would like to book both rooms for 4 nights if possible, she wants to bring some friends and have a bit of a getaway after the festival ?”
OMG, OMG, OMG, yes it worked, yes I filled the rooms, and YES Janet was coming, PLUS booking more rooms and more nights than I had even hoped. [There was just one catch, she wanted to bring her lap dog and I would have to stash it at my managers cottage as it was against health rules to have dogs on site. I sorted that and was happy to personally babysit Janets pooch]. Anyway, the weekend was great, other guests thought they were in “High Roller World”, the owners were stoked and YES Janet fell in love with the lodge and went on to use it as her executive retreat venue.
This moment in 1994 really was such a great lesson for me. I was so scared to make that call but it sooo totally paid off tenfold compared to my fear. It is something I have repeated again and again in my life in business and socially and have a clear belief that stepping out of your comfort zone, always extends you and you usually get paid off big time. If you don’t then at least you don’t experience anguish over what you “could have done” to get a different result.
These days if I am ever in a situation of making a scary call I often remind myself – hey I called Janet...I can do this – this person I am calling is no where near as scary. So thankyou Janet for teaching me such a great lesson – I wonder if that was her intention – because really, if you look at it from her point of view it was a pretty bold move on my part – who knows - perhaps she wanted to reward it.
Anyway, this harnessing courage is definatley ”juicy living” and something I see my “juicy friends” doing regularly. So next time you are faced with a scary challenge – perhaps think of a time in the past you have been brave and it has paid off for you or just remember my call to Janet to summons the courage too xoxo.
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Coming soon Blogs - Trait # 4 - Consuming Passions as a Driving Force. Trait #5 - They are highly Organised, some even Set Goals! Trait #6 - They are committed to Continuous Self Improvement.
Coming soon Blogs - Trait # 4 - Consuming Passions as a Driving Force. Trait #5 - They are highly Organised, some even Set Goals! Trait #6 - They are committed to Continuous Self Improvement.
