Hi ,

A few days ago Bill and I went over to watch high wire celeb Nick Wallenda and a few of his daredevil friends put on a show in a field at a local park. (For those who don't know, Sarasota has long been the home of the Ringling Circus, and many old-time and younger performers live here.)

I've seen Nick on TV walking across the Grand Canyon and a few other unlikely places. We went to sit out in the field with some friends and I expected daring acts, for sure. But along with that I got a good life lesson. Several, in fact!

• I love how this guy focuses. I mean, he REALLY has to focus in on being way up on a high wire, in 35 mph winds, and no net, no nothing. It is single-minded focus, and that's what we all need when we are working in our business.
• I also love how Nick serves others. He pulled together this show as one way to help the circus performers earn money, because they have been shut down for more than a year now. People gladly paid the money to be entertained and to help support local performers.
• I love how he thanks his staff. He continually praises and thanks his wife, his sons, his cousin - everyone involved in the show. Just after he finished his high wire walk his wife, who is an aerialist, flew in hanging from the bottom side of a helicopter, which hovered overhead as she hung from a swing and performed. Nick was standing at the top of the high wire platform, waving to her over on the helicopter which was a ways away, just like a little kid.

Nick has written a book, Facing Fear, which is inspirational and encouraging. His family motto is, "Never give up." (That's an Amazon affiliate link.) He talks about overcoming fear after falling, after losing family members, after feeling doubt. He talks about working himself out of fear and how all of us can do that.

It's not hard to notice that his shows are impeccably run. The sound system works, the timing is perfect, the safety precautions (wind speed and so forth) are in place. In his line of work there is NO margin for error. When he trained to walk over the volcano in South America a few years ago he trained for months using huge wind machines to mimic the 50 mile per hour gusts of heat coming up from the volcano - with a gas mask on, too. He is a planner who leaves nothing to chance.

Those are all good lessons for us as business owners. I never thought I would end up admiring Wallenda, but I really do.

Wallenda is engaging. He's a showman. He loves what he does and he's also in it for the money, and there's not a thing wrong with that.

Speaking of engaging, if you missed it the other day, let's talk about engaging your audience where it counts WAY MORE than Facebook, and that's on your own website. Getting engagement and reach for your blog posts is important for building long-term visibility, building your e-mail subscriber list, and making sales. I've been working through Engaging Your Audience, and you'll find it to be useful if you are wanting to get better engagement and monetize your blog more this year. (That is my own affiliate link.) Carly, the blogger who created it, has updated it for 2021, which I like, too.

You can check it out by clicking this button and try using SUE15 for a little discount, too.

Better Blogging

Take a note from Nick. Prepare, face your fears, be of service, and love what you do. That's one solid recipe for success in business and in life.

To your sweet success,

Sue Painter