Journeys with the No Schedule Man

In the second of four "Special Edition" episodes to launch the podcast's new name ("Journeys with the No Schedule Man"), Kevin reflects on the evolution of his life's journey in the time since he began the podcast. For this four weeks, Kevin has hand-picked specific conversations that have made a major impact on his personal and professional development, noting why that's been the case and how what he's learned may be of some help to you, too. With an all new introduction and wrap-up, this episode features a lot of new content and perspective, along with the recounting of a conversation that was transformational for Kevin: a chat with Sara Westbrook, a speaker, writer and performer who specializes in resilience, confidence and mental well-being. It was during his conversation with Sara that Kevin was hit with a "lightning bolt" of inspiration (a "voice") that ended up shaping much of how his life would change from that point on. What happened next is the subject of Kevin's opening to this episode, as he examines the choices he'd made up to that point, and looked ahead to how he'd have to choose – and act – differently to get to that new place he was inspired to seek while talking with Sara.

©2017 Kevin Bulmer Enterprises

In the first of four "Special Edition" episodes to launch the podcast's new name ("Journeys with the No Schedule Man"), Kevin reflects on the evolution of his life's journey in the time since he began the podcast. For the next four weeks, Kevin has hand-picked specific conversations that have made a major impact on his personal and professional development, noting why that's been the case and how what he's learned may be of some help to you, too. With an all new introduction and wrap-up, this episode features almost 30 minutes of new content and perspective, along with the recounting of a conversation that was transformational for Kevin in the development of the podcast and his career in general: a chat with David Ciccarelli of Voices.com, about the journey of starting from nothing and organically and systematically growing into the global company it is today. ©2017 Kevin Bulmer Enterprises

How cool can kind be? And can compassion, community and caring be capitalized upon, not in a manipulative way but as a means of generating good with good?

It seems like this should be a simple question to answer, but the more I really dive into it, the more fascinatingly complex it becomes to me.

Can a for-profit business be built and thrive on kindness and compassion? Cindy Brett, a dynamic woman who has spearheaded a movement called "Kindnessology," is interested to find out.

Cindy is a life success consultant who has studied about the mind and the creative process throughout her career. She has learned there are exact laws in place which, if implemented, create unrivaled serenity and harmony throughout our lives. Cindy feels that it is her purpose to more deeply understand how it is that we create our own lives and how we can inspire others to do the same.

Cindy has studied with many great authors and teachers over the last dozen years, including Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Byron Katie, Carolyn Myss, Zig Ziglar, Mark Victor Hansen, Les Brown, Michael Losier, and Gary Zukav. She has been personally mentored and coached by Bob Proctor, Losier, and Paul Hutsey. Our common interest and attraction to Proctor became an interesting point for discussion.

Among the many incredible things that stood out from my conversation with Cindy were:

1. The privilege of awareness - I had yet to hear anyone describe awareness in quite this way, using the word "privilege." It felt completely appropriate as soon as Cindy mentioned it.

2. Pain as an agent of change - I asked Cindy what precipitated her transformation and she quickly answered with one word: Pain.

3. Stay with it - Cindy noted that what we focus on expands and I was probably turning a little bit red when she talked about how common it is for people who like to learn and grow to flit about from book to book to book and course to course to course, gobbling up information and forever searching for what they perceive to be the missing piece of their puzzle.

We did eventually steer back around to Kindnessology but I think you'll find this entire conversation completely enriching if you are in any way interested in mindset and manifestation.

©2017 Kevin Bulmer Enterprises

The question today is: why would we care so much about what other people think of us, and how are we allowing that to limit us?

That's a question that hits me right between the eyes that I have been grappling with on a daily basis the last couple of years, and it also confronted this episode's guest, Susan Kovacs. It carried a lot of impact for her, especially because it came out of the mind and mouth of her daughter. Known as the "Game Changer," Susan Kovacs is a sought-after, straightforward coach to ambitious high performers. And her story so far is fascinating and empowering.

30 years after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and living those decades under the cloak of limitations suggested by both doctors and the disease, Susan competed in and completed her first triathlon. As you will hear, even deciding to try to do a triathlon, let alone completing one, was an enormous leap for her, both physically and spiritually.

Anyone who has ever doubted themselves for any reason is going to love this conversation.

Anyone who has ever listened to an outside influence, be it a parent or doctor or teacher or co-worker, and labelled themselves as unable to do something from that point forward will most definitely be able to relate to Susan.

I am completely confident that you will find her story incredibly uplifting.

There is a lot of great value to take away from Susan's story. Just some of the key elements that stood out to me included:

1. Identity vs authenticity and a question from her daughter - About a half hour into our discussion, Susan talked about how she recognized that so much of her identity was wrapped up in being a wife and mother and a people-pleaser. When her daughter asked her why she cared so much about what other people thought of her, she realized that she had an "identity" but that was not necessarily an accurate reflection of who she authentically. 2. Hitting "delete" on the self-talk tape – This, yet again, is a perspective on the importance of awareness, choice and mindset. 3. Focus on the process - Susan mentioned, "We get caught up in the outcome." But when you can focus on each step of the journey, it will pull you into the present and you will enjoy it all a whole lot more.

©2017 Kevin Bulmer Enterprises

How much of you – the real you – and your story are you sharing? We're going to get into that today with Michel Neray, an international speaker, co-author of "The Great Crossover" and founder of "MoMondays," a monthly variety show that combines storytelling, comedy and live music and which, since its creation in 2012, has expanded to multiple cities across Canada and in the United States.

Michel helps people craft and perform more effective, "purposeful" stories to become more effective at what they do. He also uses Purposeful Storytelling to more effectively help organizations position and brand themselves in the marketplace.

But of course, this podcast is most about the story – the journey – of the guest. In this case, it's Michel Neray, and I can tell you that it is a fascinating and thought-provoking story.

Some of the key things I took from my time with Michel Neray include:.

1. Never lose sight of the intense desire to see the good in people and the love in the world (a lesson from his mother) - He tells some very touching stories about how his mother was always able to see the ridiculousness in even the most dire of situations and related and most unlikely story to Michel about her funniest memory, which she shared right near the end of her life.
2. Keeping your stories and experiences to yourself can eat away at you, no matter how brave and admirable a face you may be putting up (a lesson from his father) -Michel shares some remarkable stories and revelations that he had about his father, who certainly sounds like remarkable man.
3. Know what you want, but getting clear on what you do not want maybe just as or even more important - When Michel came up with the concept of what became MoMondays, he had a pretty good idea of what he wanted, but he also had a very clear intention of what he did NOT want.

©2017 Kevin Bulmer Enterprises

Tonia Adleta is an international speaker, the founder and host of the Single Parent Summit and the owner of multiple businesses, including an award-winning wedding and event planning and floral design company. She describes herself as a recovering perfectionist and single mom to the two most amazing kids ever.

Tonia and I are kindred spirits in many ways. One of the suggestions or principles that is often suggested that I simply have never been able to accept is the idea of just choosing one thing, picking one lane and staying there for the rest of your life. From a marketing and simplicity perspective, I admit I sometimes wish I were more like that. If I were to choose just one thing and be able to dedicate my whole life to it, I bet I could be world-class in that field. But I'm not wired that way. I'm too curious and too creative. I have things that I am more interested in developing than others, but I can never see myself doing just one thing.

Seeing that Tonia feels and lives the same way was a breath of fresh air. And I don't think either one of us is trying to suggest that's what you have to do as well, but especially in this digital age, it seems that we must be multifaceted in our emotional maturity skill set in order to navigate the tricky waters of relationships, friendships, work, health, parenting, recreation and so many other things.

So how do we do that? Well, part of the answer is addressed right off the start of the discussion with Tonia and it is one of a number of things that stood out to me from our conversation, including:

1. There's no such thing as work-life balance - There's just life. This was one of my favourite beginnings to any episode of this podcast so far. I thought I'd tossed Tonia a bit of a curveball and was interested to see what she do with it. I was fascinated when she didn't even swing at it. And I absolutely loved the way she answered the question. So rather than saying anything more about it here, I will let you listen to the episode to hear her response.

1. Mindfulness versus looking backward or forward - Tonia gives a terrific account of how you can tell if you are in one of two very common camps of people. The first is to evaluate if you are treating yourself like a victim, as if life always happens to you. This will sound familiar if you find that you are always looking backwards, rehashing things from the past, carrying ill feelings with you, recycling bad memories, and basically being unwilling to let go. The other camp has you looking forward. This one delays the thought of happiness until a certain result can be achieved. Of course, the tragedy is, with this operating system, you can never get the result that you want; you're focused on pleasing everyone but yourself and having to be perfect all the time. It's a road to nowhere.
2. Awareness - This has come up before, it is going to come up again, it is a key part of one of the keynote speeches I deliver, it is central as one of the six key pieces in a speech that Tonia delivers and I am going to continue to highlight this point whenever it comes up for as long as I'm doing this podcast. And the reason why is that most people in my experience are unaware that they are unaware. I include myself in this up until fairly recently. Another way of saying this is, "people that don't get it don't get that they don't get it." Tonia gives a great account of why this is important so I encourage you to listen for that along with the other of the six points that she delivers part way through our discussion.

Also listen for her story about being on the floor of the bathroom when she was living in a mobile home. I point that out because what you are about to hear is a dynamic, creative, successful woman of great character. I think it's really easy to look at somebody for where they are now and then assume they've never had those moments when life has brought them to their knees. If that's something you're going through now, know that it is not just you. It happened to me and it's happened to Tonia. You can get through it if you choose to and Tonia is going to give you some terrific examples of how to do that.

©2017 Kevin Bulmer Enterprises

Melissa Schenk is the creator of MS2 Productions, a high impact video marketing agency. She also works as a speaker, author, producer and business consultant, among other things. She has a vast background in media that includes both radio and a long run as television weather anchor.

Melissa certainly knows the landscape of media and broadcasting first-hand. Her creative passions and entrepreneurial instincts have continued to drive her forward into creating new and exciting ways to communicate and to help empower others to do the same.

What you are about to hear is a really fun story of an energetic, kind and creative soul who has made an art out of trusting her intuition to explore the next idea and to be constantly focused on the possibility of what could go right as opposed to worrying about what might go wrong. Some of the key things I took from my time with Melissa include: 1. Doing what can't be done - Melissa tells a great story about a camp that she created for kids in her days and radio. She had a vision and an idea that she believed in but did not have an existing model that she could point to in order to get other people to understand what she was getting at. So she created it and she gives some examples in our conversation of what happened as a result.

2. You become like the people you spend the most time with - This came up in the context of her recognizing one of her mentors in TV broadcasting, a longtime weather anchor in this city named Jay Campbell. The principle behind this idea however is much larger. You do tend to create a collective Consciousness with the people you associate with the most. They affect you and you affect them whether you want to believe you do or not. If you want to start getting different results in your life or reach a more successful, healthier, or creative plain, you may need to take a really hard look at the people that are around you the most, what their attitudes are and what conversation, gossip, and energy levels you are exposing yourself to the most.

3. Remember, it's what I can do for you and not the other way around - This comes up near the end when she tells the story about how she landed inside the top 10 of a competition of more than 35,000 entries for tourism Queensland's "Best job in the world" competition. 95% of people took the tactic to say why they would be the best and why this organization should give them the job. Melissa took a different approach and it is a fine example of one of the obvious things that any marketer can do to differentiate themselves, understand that it's not about them. It's about the customer. This sounds like a very simple philosophy, but it's one that just about all of us, myself included, get wrong on a consistent basis. When we are talking about features and benefits and all of the things that make us great, we are not necessarily offering what that can do for the people that were trying to help. It's really not about us. It's about them, and Melissa's story drives that point home nicely. ©2017 Kevin Bulmer Enterprises

A self-described "student of transformation," Andre Radmall is a registered psychotherapist (UKCP, BUPA) and life coach based in London England with over twenty years experience working for the Priory Hospital, London School of Theology and in private practice. Andre is also an international speaker and trainer who combines his drama and therapy experience to offer a unique approach to business coaching (he gives us some terrific examples of this during our discussion). Andre is the author of the books "Insight Into Addiction" and "Holistic Health"

Andre has a unique approach that has grown out of more than twenty years of helping people change. Over the years, he realized that one big reason for people getting stuck in habits of addiction, stress or eating disorders was the way they saw themselves. He came to see that people are much more likely to fall into stress, addiction or a bad relationship when they don't know who they are. When people start to see themselves more clearly they start to change the story about who they are and what they can do. This is a change that transforms people emotionally, behaviourally, cognitively and spiritually. I have come to describe this change as "rewriting the book of our lives."

My imagination came alive as I spoke to Andre. His way of using theatre to help people step both out of – and into – themselves is inspired.

Some of the key things I took from my time with Andre included:

1. The Power of a Name – His story about going from "William" to "Andre" is powerful. I wonder what other names, labels, ideas or stories we may be putting upon ourselves to define our sense of worth but don't really describe WHO we really are??
2. Monologue to Dialogue – As Andre notes, being stuck in a monologue takes its toll on the imagination, and therefore can be very limiting. Monologues see people trapped in a perspective and not open to change. Dialogues are like dance. Which sounds most familiar to you?
3. Letting Go to Receive – This is one of many paradoxical concepts we discuss. This describes his transformational shift in theatre – when he learned to relax and let go – he said he was "taking his eyes off of me."

©2017 Kevin Bulmer Enterprises

Known as the "Why Guy" and Canada's Creative Coach, Gerry Visca exists to inspire people and their ideas to action. His current mission is to inspire One Million Whys, all around the world. As one of Canada's top Inspirational Speakers, a 16-time author and publisher of Defyeneurs, Gerry's on a mission to inspire a new ROI in the World – one where we all Reach Out & Inspire others.

At the time of our conversation, Gerry has two new books just about to be released. One of them is called "Influence," and it celebrates 11 autobiographies of Women Inspiring Change. The intention of the book is to inspire 11,000 people in the world to become someone of influence.

The other, very near and dear to Gerry's heart, is a novel called "Remembering Why." As the first novel in his 16-book repertoire, the intention of "Remembering Why" is to take the reader on a wondrous journey of remembering why they exist. The characters are full of life and each one is on their own journey of discovering what matters most. We all knew "why" as a child but somewhere along the way, we forgot who we truly are. 500 first-edition copies of "Remembering Why" will be released in July 2017.

Some of the key points I took from my time with Gerry include:

1. Finding Your "Why" Is Not Linear - His discussion points about discovering your "why" not being a linear process really made me think about my own journey to "why," my eventual reconnection to my inner child and where and when the different sparks of inspiration arrived.

1. Quantum Creation – I can only imagine how often Gerry gets asked something like, "How do you do all of this?" I get asked it a lot, so I can only imagine what it's like for Gerry. He gives us some great insight into it how he creates and does all that he does.

1. Passion + Purpose = Outcome – If you spend any time at all around Gerry or absorbing his work, you'll come across that formula of his. It may sound fundamental, but do you even know what you are passionate about? You may not. At a deeper level, you do. But on the surface? That may take some work. As Gerry said, "Most people are unaware that they are even unaware."

©2017 Kevin Bulmer Enterprises

Since the late 1970's Jim Gilbert has been earning & growing a reputation as "Canada's Huggable Car Dealer." Along with his wife Dawna, Jim has built a family-run business that is a shining example of what it means to never be afraid of standing in your own truth and believing in the magic of possibilities.

If you were to visit Jim Gilbert's Wheels And Deals in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, you'd find a business – and, indeed, a business that sells pre-owned vehicles … used cars – that is a reflection of the values and the enormous hearts of the people who created and nurture it. Sitting on what they call "six acres of fabulous," Jim Gilbert's Wheels and Deals is much, much more than a vehicle dealership. It's a destination. It's CANADA's Huggable Car Dealer. Of course, the irony here is that the magic sauce is not in some catchy slogan, marketing gimmick or promotional trick. It's all in the consistent implementation of ageless principles of kindness, appreciation and integrity.

Here are a few of the key things I took from my time with Jim:

1. Working Weekends & Learning From the Customer – Listen for how Jim got his initial opportunities, and what he did to sell more boats than anyone else at the time.

1. Shoot the Gun, Ride the Bullet – Jim's become a master at "riding the bullet." He's learned to trust his intuition, take action, and figure it out as he goes.

1. He Did What Everybody Else Did … Until He Didn't – How he was "stuck" in the same rut as everyone else until he saw someone different he could model … and eventually surpass. He did this with his personal growth, too (listen for the Zig Ziglar tape story). This can only come from the curiosity of a growth mindset.

© 2017 Kevin Bulmer Enterprises