I have an IDEA! You should totally make out with someone today!

Recently I met a pretty awesome lady and she told me that she had a feeling that there was a lot going on in my head....between you and me, She has no idea how true that is. One of the strange things about me is that I am pretty much unable to "turn off" my mind and I am always working on things. I am sort of a genius with a super computer for a brain but instead of using my abilities to solve the worlds problems I use it to process song lyrics and lines from movies and television shows...oh and to generate a lot of ideas on many different subjects.

I have been thinking a great deal about ideas and idea generation in the last few days because I picked up the book Catching The Big Fish - Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity by David Lynch (yes, That David Lynch). The book is a fascinating read and delves into a lot about letting your mind generate ideas etc and my favorite advice in the book is about love!

Love is my favorite thing in the world and am always thinking about how LOVE (the emotion, not the physical act) can be used in your job and your career. The best example in the book is, about falling in love with an idea....really falling in love with an idea and I am now going to take that example to an extreme......I agree falling in love with an idea is the way to go but I think you need to fall so in love that it gives you butterflies and you are always thinking about it and even when you are not thinking about it you have a piece of it with you and you are wondering what that idea is up to and how you can get back to it.

Believe me when I say I know that sounds creepy but if you are really interested in great idea development you have to really find it from somewhere deep inside yourself (hence the title "catching the big fish") and if you really think about it......Love makes you do things and take risks. Can you remember a time you just grabbed a girl or a guy and kissed them not knowing if it would be received well. That was a big risk but I bet it felt awesome and exciting.

Now take that feeling and implement that in an idea or a project.

Fall in love with things and take a love risk.

Oh and find someone you have never kissed before and grab them by the ears and give them a sloppy wet kiss.....today only...you can tell them I said it was Ok!

Please enjoy your stay Mr. Colt

I know it is much more fashionable to blog about or chat up bad experiences you have with people or companies because they are usually more interesting etc but I had such a great experience the other day with of all places a Hotel that I have not stopped telling anyone who will listen...and the people who I am traveling with are getting tired of hearing about it.

So here is the deal. Last Sunday I flew into Boston with two other people from FreshBooks and when we got to the Colonnade Hotel the first thing I heard was...

"Hello Mr. Colt, Hello Mr. Shah, I hope you had a nice flight"

This little touch was incredible because our greeting didn't come from the check in people but rather the doorman. Ya see, as he was taking out our luggage from the taxi he looked at our luggage tags and addressed us personally.

This was enough to really impress me because I spend a bunch of time thinking up new ways to let our customers know they are special and this person made me feel like POTUS or something equally important.

Now the story could easily end here and I would have an incredible feeling about this hotel and would recommend it to anyone I knew who was going to Boston but something else happened to make me a voracious evangelist for the Colonnade Hotel.

Wanna know what it was?

Well a full 24 hours later I saw Norman (the doorman) again and without hesitation he addressed me by name and told me if there was anything he could help me with to make my stay better I should let him know.

Our previous encounter was maybe 3 minutes long at the most and he still remembered my name. This experience was so amazing that I was moved to not only write this post but I also wrote a letter to the hotel manager letting them know what a treasure they had at the front of the building....and for the record I have never written a letter like this to anyone.

I hope this shows that when your employees are customer facing it doesn't matter if they are your most senior person or your most junior, everyone is key to making people love you...and I love Norman!

...just not in a creepy way!

The Saul Colt Valentines Day offer!

Hi Y'all,

If there is one thing I want each of you, my loving readers, to know about me it is that I am all about the love.

I have so much love in me that I have enough for my loved ones and some to spare....so I am offering some of my overflow love this Valentines Day season.

Basically I am offering myself to me your Valentine. Doesn't matter who you are (Female, Male, Tall, Short, mobile or shut in) I will be your Valentine!

I am sure you remember someone (maybe yourself) who didn't get a lot of Valentines Day cards in school....Well I think everyone deserves to feel my love so.....

.......anyone who comments on this post (with an email address) or if anyone emails me directly saulcolt (at) gmail com will get a personally written loving email on Thursday and if you request it I will throw in some sassy/sexy talk to boot.

All at no charge!

SO why I am I offering this?

Because I believe the love you get is equal to the love you give.....and I love.......getting love.

So don't be shy and send in those requests!

-saul