Ride Like a Penguin

A Fun, Practical Guide For Your Business.

Thank you for coming here to see the what this crazy penguin is doing! This is the introduction, please let me know what you think. As the days roll on we’ll be having guest bloggers to talk about the topics in Ride Like a Penguin in more depth. You input and feedback is always welcome and highly appreciated.Ride Like a Penguin is your guide to learning how to steer your passions into your life’s work and command the kind of performance you desire and deserve. Among other topics, Ride Like a Penguin takes you through the process of creating high impact messaging and assembling an effective virtual street team to get your message out exactly where it needs to be! Don’t you want to be the first to know?

Warmest regards-Nicole Donnelly

Ride Like a Penguin

By: Nicole Donnelly, founder BabyLegs and www.BigRuby.net

Introduction

I was born to shiver in the draft from an open mind.

-Phyllis McGinley

 

“Selling cookies for profit as a little girl was the first in a long line of successful entrepreneurial ventures. Whether I was riding off a big jump at the X Games as a world-class professional snowboarder or launching, growing, and ultimately selling BabyLegs LLC, a multi million dollar international business, to a major hosiery manufacturer for a price that exceeded even my own high expectations, performing at the top of my game has always been priority one. Today, I am fiercely committed to sharing the powerful lessons learned along my journey to empower aspiring entrepreneurs to travel their own remarkable, memorable, and profitable paths to success.  What I know for sure is that there is marketplace magic in finding extraordinary solutions to common problems. It’s just a matter of making the right steps, taking the right risks, and being prepared to pick yourself up and keep going when things don’t go your way.

I’ve been described as fearless. I’ve been told I live without barriers. Sometimes it’s easier to recognize bravery in others than in ourselves and so it is with great ease that the girl flying through the air on a snowboard is the one we often identify as having a torrent of courage. It isn’t that I live a life without fear, it’s that I choose to live with my fears, until they subside; walking alongside them, embracing them and then harnessing them into a means of preparation and self-navigation. In snowboarding, I chose to ride with the greats and learn from them in motion instead of hanging out and watching from the sidelines. It’s this method of not allowing my life to be ruled by the question of “what if” and choosing instead to get out there and feel the world around me that has consistently brought me pain as well as every next great chapter of my life.

When my snowboarding career ended and motherhood began, I grew a homespun solution into an international business. From my humble beginnings in our tiny apartment to where I am today, there have been many times when I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing or what my next move would be. But in those moments, with fear having returned to my side, I again chose movement over paralysis and with great persistence, I found the answers that will lead you to your success.

Several years ago when I was still working from home with my tiny staff, I learned that a potential Japanese distributor would visit us. I was all at once terrified and excited; I needed a plan. I knew that in Japan, status mattered significantly and my modest little home office would not be the optimal place to present my business or myself. I chose instead to reserve a box at the Mariner’s baseball game, a conference room there for the initial meeting before the game, and even a scheduled jumbotron message to flash, “Welcome” to our guests. During batting practice, we took a tour of the stadium and by luck their favorite player was up to bat when we went down to the field. Then, almost unbelievably, a charming stadium attendant chose to give them bobble heads of their favorite Japanese player. From the American brewpub dinner beforehand, to the smiling bobble head in their hands…they loved it all. We not only got the contract, but these specific clients ended up being our largest distributor. Granted, I had no control over the surprise gift of bobble heads, but what I did have was the resourcefulness to investigate Japanese culture and to utilize the things I already had around me. It was easily the best return of any investment I’ve ever made.

As an athlete, I had a lifetime of gymnastics training under my belt before I competed in my first snowboarding competition, but I still had to find the courage to bring myself to the mountain. I had virtually no sense of what it meant to make it in the business world when I launched my first company, but through diligence, perseverance and the willingness to take risks, I found the success that some people only dream of. I wouldn’t say I’m fearless…but when I’m scared, I do it anyways. I focus on what the best-case scenario can be for any situation and then make it as much of a reality that I can. So what if you don’t know the difference between LCL and SEO. You can look it up and learn what you need to; the answers you’re searching for are right in front of you and this book is one of them. What this book contains are the best tools that I have found, borrowed and modified. In it, you’ll find stories about how you can use them in everyday life and business. You’ll find stories about a challenge, the tool you’ll need to get through it, the resolution, and the results of getting over the hurdle. This is an honest approach to attaining success because the stories and tools that you’ll read about come from real life success stories.

Chances are, you’ve already had your own share of new or frightening experiences in your own life and with them comes the knowledge that you dealt effectively with whatever those obstacles or fears were. What this tells you now, is that you’ve acquired the ability to deal with new fears and create solutions. Your entire life is spent acquiring the different tools you’ll need to survive and thrive. This book will give you the practical tools you’ll need to advance through your chosen new adventure.

And finally, penguins. Why penguins? Several years ago, I was working my first season at Stevens Pass Ski Resort. I worked in the rental shop, lived in employee housing, and spent every other living moment riding my board. One day, a friend of mine told me about these incredible natural hot springs that were within hiking distance and asked me if I was interested in finding them with him. I was absolutely up for the adventure.

We embarked into the mountains at 10 o’clock at night; there was no visible trail, no path or clear course to follow. We were knee deep in snow, breaking trail, moving forward into a snowy prominence where nothing looked familiar to me. It was silent as we trudged on, save for the protest of snapping branches in our way.

There was this buzzing of power lines overhead, growing as we progressed. I started to hear other noises, not made by us. I started to think about the other things that might be there with us, just behind one of the trees, or above us on a branch. Cougars are hungry in the winter and found readily in the mountains of Washington State. Then I started to think about penguins sliding around having fun. Because who doesn’t like penguins? Soft, little social creatures hanging out in Antarctica and curiously waddling around with their friends. They’re the friendly little survivors at the top of the world, knee deep in snow and having their own wee adventures. “Penguins, penguins, penguins.” I told myself. Over and over I told myself, “Penguins, penguins, penguins.”

Every strange new noise coming from the surrounding forest was just another penguin in my mind. Every sudden jab of sound was merely a penguin poking its head out of the snow, muddling about and looking for its egg. And then we were there. The hot springs were everything my friend had told me and more. Someone, at some time had had the vision to build simple wooden decking around it, thereby creating this truly awesome and accessible mountain oasis. We slipped into the tubs and the hike up the mountain left my muscles and mind completely. The blissful calm of a natural hot tub on the side of a mountain was worth every step of our adventure. Of course, there was still the trek back down. And once again, “Penguins, penguins, penguins…”

I have fear. I’m human. But even though I might be afraid to do something, odds are, I’m going to do it anyway. You can slip and slide around, over bumps and off jumps, having fun all along the way, riding like a penguin. Without succumbing to the mental paralysis of always wondering about what could go wrong, think about what could go right. What could go inexplicably, blissfully, satisfyingly right? Everything. Everything could go just as you plan for it, hope for it and want it to happen. It might be wolves in the woods, but it could also be penguins. You don’t want to miss the view from the top because you were too afraid to break new trail. Especially when you’ve got all the tools you need right here.

This is a book of recipes not rules. Try them out and get creative.”