My
name is Jeff Wasserman and here is my story. I realize that before
anyone would invest hard earned money in personal development or
in business development, they would want to know more about the facilitator.
Although I have always been a very private and confidential person,
I learned as an innkeeper that my guests wanted to know more and
more about me and my life. So here is a little about me and my goals.
When
I was 15, my family moved from St. Louis Mo. to Orlando Fl. I met
my wife in high school and she always commented on the fact that
I was fascinated with self-help books and material. I attended many
self-help seminars at the age of 16. I met a man named Glenn Turner
who was one of the best motivational speakers in the world. Unfortunately
some of Glenn's associates convinced him to offer a referral fee
to attendees to bring their friends to the next seminar. If they
bought
his material they would get 40% of the sale.
Because
of this commission that he paid to his attendees, the federal government
stepped in and he ended up in federal prison. Even though he used
his positive motivational material in a unethical manner
and paid a big price for his investment scheme, I still think he
was
one of
the best motivational speakers of our time.
While
in college, I started my first business. I owned a Landscape nursery.
It was a great business for a young person, but not what I wanted
to do the rest of my life. After graduating from Rollins College,
I
opened
an apparel company. I loved the apparel industry but i realized that
the industry was going through a era of mergers.
I purchased a restaurant that was a high volume, blue plate type
of dinner. We have many repeat customers and most got to know me
very
well.
After
graduating from college, I started listing to Bruce
Williams on
the radio. I found his advice and style exactly what I needed. I
have been very fortunate and have met Bruce in person many times
in my life. It was one of the highlights of my life.
Shortly
after graduating from college, I was married to my high school sweat
heart. We have been happily married for almost 20 years.
In
1996 we sold the apparel business and moved to the North East Georgia
Mountains. My wife
and I purchased land totally surrounded by the National Forest and
started a journey we will never forget. We built our dream Bed
and Breakfast. The first phase was a large Lodge with 16 guest rooms,
a 3,000 square foot owners quarters and thousands of square feet
of open meeting area.
After
running it for a few years, we added cabins, a swimming pool, hiking
trails and a tennis court. In 2000 we added a second lodge. We found
ourselves catering to individual guests and a few groups. Our business
was good, but nothing special.
Up
until that point we relied heavily on the local chamber of commerce
and ads in local travel magazines to bring us our business. In 2001
my life and my business changed. In February 2001 I hosted a local
chamber of commerce workshop as a non revenue event. I provided snacks
and lunch for about 60 guests. I figured that they were my marketing
arm, so i was more than thankful to offer my Inn for their use.
All
the other Bed and Breakfasts and Country Inns around our town relied
on the same marketing arm, local tourism ads and membership in the
local chamber of commerce. Shortly after hosting this non revenue
event, a dispute erupted between the local chamber and myself. It
was obvious that neither party was going to give in and the local
chamber felt they had the upper hand since most of the local inns
were linked from their web site and that is how we received most
of our traffic on our web sites.
I
felt the local chamber would not do anything to hurt us since we
had been a member in good standing for many years, we collected a
local bed tax for the county and I felt many of the chamber board
members were my friends. Not discounting that we had just hosted
a workshop
as a courtesy.
May
2001, I received a call that would change my life. It was from a
chamber employee, who advised that we were being removed from the
local chamber due to a disagreement we had over charges from a cooperative
advertising campaign. I reminded the chamber employee that it requires
board approval to remove members. I figured i was safe since I thought
many of the board members were my friends.
On
June 6th, my new life began. I received a call from a guest mentioning
that my link had been removed from the chamber of commerce web site.
After a quick check I called the chamber to learn that I did not
have as many friends as I thought on the board. I had been removed
as
a member.
So
there I was with a problem, a really big problem. Who do you turn
to, who do you call? I called my friend, Thomas
J. Leonard. He was
the first Life Coach and the founder of the Life Coach profession.
I explained both on the phone and in an e mail the circumstances
and how devastated I was. What a blow to our marketing ability this
would be.
Not
so, according to Thomas. He always reframed problems into goals or
challenges. He quickly taught me new ways to look at my problem,
he gave me a new perspective on the entire situation. It reminded
me of the story of "Miracle on 34th st." when Mr. Macy and Mr. Gimble
were competitors.
Using
what came to be my Better Inn Business concept, I increased my business,
even after 9/11 my business was up and my profit was growing. I remember
so many of my competitors asking me how I am doing so well while
they are really struggling.
My
favorite moment is when a local merchant mentioned at a meeting that
without my resort, it would have been a really tough summer. My guests
were keeping the town alive during some really tough times in our
history.
My
problem with the local chamber of commerce became my greatest asset
instead of my greatest problem. More and more hospitality businesses
were noticing my occupancy, especially during slow times.
In
2002, Thomas recommended that I allow my resort or Inn to develop
a specialty or niche. We discussed the possibilities and surveyed
our guests. We eventually decided on a spirituality niche. We promoted
our resort as a place where you can write the things you never wrote,
thought the things you have never thought and said the things
you have never said. A
place where it was magical.
In
January 2003 a international religious group made us an offer to
purchase our resort. My first thought was, I was too
young to retire. After speaking with Thomas, I realized that I had
fulfilled my dream and it was a good time to pursue my coaching
interest. I realized that many innkeepers purchased
their inn so they could lead a better quality of life. Now they are
finding
themselves working 24/7 using an old marketing method and not
achieving a better
life. I wanted to teach other innkeepers how to compete
with new, large chains and still keep their inns individual charm.
On
February 24th 2003, we sold our resort, unfortunately on February
11th, just two weeks before we sold the resort, my friend Thomas
passed away of a massive heart attack.
I
am now offering a program that combines my past business experiences
with my advanced coaching skills. I am a Master Life Coach and enjoy
helping people live a wonderful life.
Please
consider allowing me to show you how you can change the way you look
at your inn and change the scope of your services. You can re-energize
yourself and your business. If you are serious about growing your
business, this is the program for you.
I
can show you so many methods you can use to market your business
and make more profit in less time. One thing I always remind people
is, Thomas felt like when you drive up to a town and ask which inn
is the nicest, only one inn comes to mind and it is your inn. He
also felt the same way about buying products or services. There should
only be one name in each field or category.
Let
me show you how you can use the tools I created to survive on
my own without the local chamber. The best part is, my techniques
proved
very successful and changed the guests perception which I immediately
could see the benefits on my bottom line.
Thanks
to the manner in which my friends removed me from the local chamber,
I am here today to offer you a better way to market your business
and remove road blocks in our minds. My last few years operating
my business without the restrictions I placed on my self, proved
very profitable and allowed me more time to spend with my family.
I used my own marketing tools instead of counting on the chamber
of commerce to do my job for me.
Are you ready
to change your life and your business?
Let's
get started today.
1-800-841-8776
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