Nov 10, 2020
Speaker 1:
"Sometimes to begin a new story, you have to let the old onein." Author unknown. I am Cynthia Marquez and I am a Tri-Cityinfluencer.
Paul Casey:
And if we must assume, the only thing I would say is to assume apositive intent. So if there's a gap between why that personbehaved as they did and you don't know the answer, fill in that gapwith positive intent and check it out.
Speaker 3:
Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities ofEastern Washington, it's the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. Welcometo the TCI podcast, where local leadership and self-leadershipexpert Paul Casey interviews local CEOs, entrepreneurs, andnon-profit executives to hear how they lead themselves and theirteams. So we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience.Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Services. Coachingand equipping individuals and teams to spark breakthroughsuccess.
Paul Casey:
It's a great day to grow forward. Thanks for joining me fortoday's episode with Mike Denslow. Mike is the originator of Lovethe Tri, a sticker I have on my Hydroflask right here. And he'salso a branch manager at Homebridge. And a fun fact about Mike ishe's a creator. He can see stuff that is not there and make ithappen. Mike, just give us a little glimpse of that real quick.
Mike Denslow:
I was telling you before we started the show that I like thingsthat are just in my brain and then seeing them and touching them.If it takes a few days or if it takes months, that accomplishmentof just the tiniest little idea, that spark, and then making ithappen. I just love it.
Paul Casey:
Yeah, that is awesome. I can't wait to talk more. We're going todive in after checking in with our Tri-City Influencer sponsor.
Speaker 5:
Mario Martinez, Northwestern mutual. Mario, what types ofservices do you offer?
Mario Martinez:
Hey Paul, thank you for letting me be on here. We run bifurcatedpractices and that we focus in two areas of a financial plan. Thefirst one is, we do protection pieces which include life insurance,disability insurance, long-term care insurance. Really the thingsthat people should be focused on to protect their families, theirbusinesses. And on the other side of our practice is we doinvestment services. And on the investment platforms, we do boththe brokerage platform and we do the advisory level services. Sodepending on what someone's looking for as far as guidance on theirinvestment strategies, we can curtail and build a strategy for themto make sense.
Speaker 5:
Mario, how can people get in touch with you? The easiest way isyou can reach out to me directly on my business cell phone. It's509-591-5301. You can send me an email at mario.martinez@nm.com oryou can reach out to us on our social media platforms, the easiestone being Mario Martinez Northwestern Mutual on Facebook.
Paul Casey:
Thank you for your support of leadership development in theTri-Cities. Well, welcome, Mike. This is the first time we’ve met,but I feel like I know you because the Love the Tri stuff is allover the Tri-Cities. And even my pastor and my church wore I Lovethe Tri shirt. I think he called you on a weekend because he wasspeaking on how our church wants to love the Tri-Cities. So that'spretty funny.
Mike Denslow:
Yeah. I've met him in a Starbucks parking lot with a shirt and ahat and some stickers and did a handoff. Yep, well, happy to doit.
Paul Casey:
Pretty cool. Well, tell us a little bit about your journey. Howcan our Tri-City influencers get to know you in a snapshot? And whyyou love what you do.
Mike Denslow:
Well, born and raised in Tri-Cities. Grew up in Pasco, graduatedPasco High, went away to college, started a family, wanted my kidsto grow up in Tri-Cities, just like I did, and moved back. Wasn'tgone very long, really. And came back and after I got out ofcollege, I got into the computer field for a while and ended upstarting BOSS Computer Solutions with a friend of mine. And we didthat for a while.
Paul Casey:
I didn't know that was you.
Mike Denslow:
Yeah, yeah. And we did that for a while and then it was time forthe next thing. You do something for awhile, then got antsy. Andguy that I went to high school with recommended getting into themortgage business with him. And so that's been 15-and-a-half yearsago now and I love it because I love helping and educating people,I love math. And the mortgage world, you wouldn't think this, butit's actually very creative because everyone's credit score andincome and background, and everything's different, right. And soevery single day, you're helping people.
Paul Casey:
It's like a puzzle, right?
Mike Denslow:
Absolutely a puzzle. And you're helping people with typicallythe largest transaction they're ever going to have in their life.And they don't look at it as a transaction. They look at it as,"I'm buying a house." Or, "I'm refinancing a house." Or whatever.And it's very much more rewarding than I expected it to be. Butthat's what gets me to here, is Pasco High and the love for theTri-Cities and wanting my kids to grow up here. And now one ofthem's here, one of them's in Seattle, but they're adults payingfor themselves.
Paul Casey:
You mentioned the word antsy in there. I keyed in on that wordbecause creatives often have this inner juice that after a whiledoing the same thing, you’ve got to start something new. Has thatbeen a pattern in your life?
Mike Denslow:
Not really. I wasn't a job jumper or anything like that. I thinkI was just looking for more. And in that particular case, somethingmore rewarding. And then it ended up being so much more than Iexpected it. It seemed like a good career. And I had other people Iknew who did the mortgage field and then it just, wow, you close aloan for someone and, "Thank you so much." That happened over andover again. "Oh wow. You explained that better than another personthat I talked to." And getting it down to, "Well, did you thinkabout this?" And one of the first questions I ask people is, "Well,how long are you going to be in this home?" And they're like,"What's that got to do with anything?" I'm like, "Well, you can buydown points or you can do this, or you can do this." There's allthese different things that we can do to structure it so it makesmore sense for them. And they're like, "Oh."
Mike Denslow:
And I had one educator tell me, "You should teach a class onthis." And the funny thing is I come from a family of educators. Mydad was a teacher for 30-plus. My mom was a teacher. Uncle was ateacher, grandparents were teachers. And I never really thoughtabout it, but it became my style.
Paul Casey:
It's in the genes. Yeah, my parents were teachers too. So thereis an art about breaking something down into a way that'sunderstandable.
Mike Denslow:
For a lot of different people and educations and backgrounds,right. So you got to be able to explain some something to somebodywho's in a trade and an engineer and maybe even English as a secondlanguage too.
Paul Casey:
Yeah. Of course, you have to size people up pretty quickly tosee what they need and then custom communicate with them.
Mike Denslow:
Yeah. And you do that long enough you don't think about it,right.
Paul Casey:
It's just natural.
Mike Denslow:
Yup, exactly.
Paul Casey:
Well, what's been some of the biggest hurdles? Well, just giveus maybe one hurdle you've overcome in your career because asyou're on your journey to success, you hit some speed bumps.
Mike Denslow:
Yeah, good question. Well, it's tricky. You and I talked aboutsome different things that have happened before. And in my world, Iwould say, when you're dealing with competitors that maybe 100%truth isn't what comes out. And so, especially early in yourcareer, when you're going into a commission field, you lose out onsome business because somebody else tells something that they wantto hear. Then they're almost done with the loan and then they findout it not to be true, but it's too late to turn around. And sowhen you're relying on this commission business, and all of asudden, you're dealing with unethical behavior, that's hard. Imean, but it's not like you're going to change who you are and godown to their level. But the first few years of getting into thisbusiness, that actually it was in the computer business as well.Just getting out in the real world and finding out that everybodydoesn't want what's best for people, and having to accept that. Andthen, how are you going to be better?
Paul Casey:
Yeah. How to still operate out of your core values no matterwhat somebody else does?
Mike Denslow:
That's right, yup.
Paul Casey:
What do you think your biggest ongoing challenge as a branchmanager is right now?
Mike Denslow:
Oh, good question. Well, right now, 90-plus percent of us areworking from home. And so it's keeping that bond with the peoplethat work in our office. I try to reach out through Skype and phonecalls and those kinds of things. But when we're all in our office,we have things cooking. We're going to have birthday desserts inthe lunchroom. And you have that decompressed time with people,"Hey, how are your kids doing?" That kind of thing. And now, hey,you don't know what somebody might be going through. Whereas youcould visually see it if they were in your office. So it's thatdisconnect right now. The COVID, I would say, disconnect that we'reall probably feeling from regular office people.
Paul Casey:
Yeah. Having to check in virtually, you just can't see it allanymore. But we have to keep trying, right. We have to keep tryingto read her employees' body language and our customers' bodylanguage.
Mike Denslow:
Absolutely. You adapt, and then that's all you can do.
Paul Casey:
Yeah. Well, let's pause here because I want to know the story ofLove the Tri. So how did that come to you? And take us through thatjourney.
Mike Denslow:
Oh man. How long is the show? Well, I always had a creativestreak. I wouldn't say I'm the best draw-er or artist or anythinglike that, but I knew that I wanted to create something and it'sprobably going to be clothing and t-shirts and hats or something.And I was home one weekend and my wife was out of town for traveland I was eating lunch and it was just like, you know what? I justflown through Seattle or Portland airport. And I saw the I HeartSeattle. I think it probably originated in New York or they becomefamous for it, right. The I Heart New York. And I thought, "Well,why don't we have anything like that in Tri-Cities? Somebody shoulddo that." And then I started thinking, "Well, Tri-Cities doesn'treally exist on a map." Officially, because it's Pasco, Kennewick,Richland.
Mike Denslow:
And is there a Tri-Cities governing body? No, we're multiplecities. We're two different counties. Who would ever pick that up?And there's the Tri-City Visitor and Convention Bureau, which Ifound out about. And they're there doing it a little bit, but it'sjust a different thing. So I started thinking, "All right. Well,what would I call it?" And no joke. I mean, I thought about it for15 minutes and I just said, "Love the Tri." That's the only name Iever considered going. And well, what would it be? And sunsets.Something, it's not business, it's not golf, it's not atomic, it'snot wine. You know what I mean?
Paul Casey:
We have the best sunsets, yes.
Mike Denslow:
Right. But if you're not from here, you don't spend a lot oftime here, what's really nice about living here? And the sunsetsare amazing. And I was like, "Okay. Love the Tri. Sunsets. Check,check. Done." What would I do? Oh maybe t-shirts and hats. And whatwould it look like? And I started drawing a few things. And thenhere's another discussion. I've been a volunteer for water folliesand boat races for a long time and I thought of Atomic screenprinting. And I said, "Oh, I'm going to go sit down with theseguys." And Brent over there as the lead designer. And he said, "Wehave people asking about this all the time. And we've always kindof thought, 'Oh, it'd be a fun project.' But we're doing shirts forthis event and this event and this event." And they just neverreally set aside the time for it. And I said, "We'll do this andthat. What do you want to do?" And it just started gainingmomentum.
Mike Denslow:
I got a friend of mine to help build a website and the store.Atomic helped finish up the logo. I start the logos and thedesigns. I go, "This is what I want it to look like. And this iswhat I want it on." And they gave me these catalogs and then itjust started coming together. And then it was boat races. Fouryears ago, I brought some hats and t-shirts and tank tops. And Igave them to some of my friends. And then I saw this woman walkingamong the thousands of people on the Kennewick side at the time.And she had one of my tank tops on and I looked at her and I said,"Oh, I don't know who that is. She bought one of my tank tops." Andit was so cool. And I get a kick out of every time. You drive downthe street, you see somebody with a Love the Tri sticker in theback window and everything.
Mike Denslow:
And I also thought, with doing the mortgage business andeverything and successes there, I said, "What better thing to dowith Love the Tri is to then donate all the proceeds back to localnonprofits?" Kind of a different angle. And I got that idea alittle bit from Blake Mycoskie who created Toms. And I read andseen him speak and read his book and philanthropy. Entrepreneurshipthrough philanthropy is what he called it. And so I was like,"Yeah, I'll just donate all the profits back." And that's beensuper fun. Oh my gosh, Boys and girls club and the Cancer centerand veteran groups and domestic violence shelters.
Paul Casey:
Do you rotate who you donate to?
Mike Denslow:
Yeah, every year. And right now, donating to Second harvest andthe Tri-City Union Gospel Mission. So going to dropping off checkswhen people don't expect it, they're like, "What's this for?" Andit's been super fun. And a lot of people know about Love the Triand they see the hoodies and the t-shirts and the hats and thedifferent things. And then on social media, I post good photos,cool photos from the area as well, but they don't know about thedonation part. And as soon as people hear that, "Oh, that is socool." So you buy basically a $20 t-shirt, probably cost me $10,then I'm going to donate that $10 profit to a local charity.
Paul Casey:
That is so cool.
Mike Denslow:
Why not? If you Love the Tri, pour back into it.
Paul Casey:
Yeah. You did it, Mike. Some people did have ideas, but theydon't put them into play. But you hit the go button on it.
Mike Denslow:
Yeah. It's very rewarding. It's my passion project. It reallyis. And I love doing it. I don't have enough time in the day.
Paul Casey:
Sure. Because it's just you, right? You don't have a team doingthis.
Mike Denslow:
No. I've had helpers from now and then running errands anddifferent things, but Kadlec has done a great job selling ourstuff. Greenies, Tri-City Visitor and Convention Bureau as well,but right now, Greenies is really the only one that's open becausethe others are not as come in and buy stuff kind of things rightnow. Well, I've had a lot of fun partners. I've had release partieswith DJs and all these different things and I'm just winging it.Just fake it till you make it.
Paul Casey:
Well, you said passion project. So what do you mean by that? Andas the listeners listen to you say it, they can feel your passionin it. Would you recommend everybody have one?
Mike Denslow:
I think so. I think when my children were young, I was involvedin whatever they were doing. So sports and choir, whatever. And nowthat they're adults themselves and have their own families, whatwas I going to do with my time? I'm helping with the water folliesand the boat races and that kind of thing. And I've done that for awhile and okay, what else? I don't know. I'm just not one of thosepeople just sits around and doesn't do things very well. So I thinkpeople who have a passion about our community should figuresomething out. Either volunteering, do you have a charity thatyou're really behind or something like that? Why not? Spend sometime, percentage of your time giving back to your community. Ithink it's a great idea.
Paul Casey:
Very cool. Now, most of influencers I know have a bit of avisionary inside of them, whether that's in your day job or yourdream job. So where do you take time to dream about the future foryour organization, for Love the Tri, for your own life? What doesthat look like?
Mike Denslow:
Well, for work, I have a great manager and she has a greatmanager and I have a monthly call with them. And right now in themortgage business, a lot of good things are going on. And so we'revery, very busy. So we're in the management. How do we manage allthese different things that are going on right now? We talk aboutthe future, but it's more about handling things now, marketing andthat kind of thing. I like doing that, which helps with bringing infuture business. But if I'm thinking visionary, it's typically moreon the creative side, on Love the Tri and those kinds of things. Ican imagine a day when I'm retired and spending a lot more time onit and what we could do. From scholarships and programs and gettingother businesses involved. Just endless.
Paul Casey:
Let's get a whiteboard out right now. Let's start playing withthese ideas.
Mike Denslow:
Absolutely. I'm up for it.
Paul Casey:
Well, hey, before we head into our next question, behind thescenes a little bit in Mike's life about his typical morningroutine, let's shout out to our sponsors. Barracuda Coffee. Bornand brewed in the Tri-City since 2003. At Barracuda Coffee, it'speople first, then great coffee. Barracuda features freshly roastedcoffees from their own signature roastery, Charis Coffee RoastingCompany. With fresh coffee always on the shelf from all over theworld, you can taste the distinct floral flavors of Latin Americancoffees from countries like Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras.Savor the delicate Berry notes that are dominant in African coffeesfrom Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, or Kenya. Or go for the full earthytones of the South Pacific coffees from Timor, Indonesia, orSumatra. Ask your barista what's fresh and try something new today.Barracuda has two locations over on Van Giesen in Richland or onKellogg Street in Kennewick, and you can find them on Facebook.
Paul Casey:
So Mike, what's your typical morning routine look like? Beforeyou go to work, once you arrive at work, do you have any rituals tostart your day out strong?
Mike Denslow:
Yeah, I would say I'm a ritual-based person for sure. Get up,eat, and then check email at home. Shower and then get going.Lately, been working a lot from home, but when I wasn't, that wasstill the same routine. And then after that, I get a blank sheet ofpaper out and I look at yesterday's sheet of paper, which was atone point, blank, and the day before.
Mike Denslow:
And I start pulling things over that either weren't accomplishedor need some more attention to some level. And so I take that sheetof paper and I'm writing down names and ideas and follow up and allsorts of different things. And it's funny because it's evolvedinto, this is kind of the work side, that the regular work side.And then there's the Love the Tri side and personal side, and it'sa much smaller section. But that's absolutely, "What do you want toaccomplish today?" And then throughout the day, I'm adding thingsto that list. People I need to follow up. "Oh, that's right. I needto take that licensing thing or this or that or whatever." And thenthat's the daily go back to. If you have a free minute, I'm lookingat my list going, "Okay, can I check this off? Can I check thisoff? Okay." I emailed them or I left them a voicemail, so they'regoing to be circling back. And then that's every morning then.
Paul Casey:
So that's nothing fancy, just a sheet of paper.
Mike Denslow:
Nope, just a sheet of paper.
Paul Casey:
So it's not a fancy planner that's got little quadrants in it.It's just refreshing your to do list, then.
Mike Denslow:
I haven't had good luck making it digital. I've tried it on thephone and then in the Outlook and different things and it neverworked. It's a breathing document. That is a piece of paper on apad right there next to my keyboard and my mouse.
Paul Casey:
Yeah. Handwriting probably makes a brain connection.
Mike Denslow:
I don't know. It places a spot in my brain. Because I have agood memory and I can like, "Oh yeah, boom." And I just pull it outand put it there. And I use the previous couple of days' cheatsheets to help move it forward.
Paul Casey:
Influencers, one of you has to make a planner for Mike that hasquadrants. Follow up with email, Love the Tri. No, just kidding. Ilove that. That sort of a brain wipe, but it's also a refresh andsetting a new course for the day. So nothing falls off theradar.
Mike Denslow:
And then at the end of the day, everything has been touched.
Paul Casey:
That's great.
Mike Denslow:
And you stop when you're done. Not just when you're tired. Youstop when you're done.
Paul Casey:
Yes. Which brings me to my next question. How do you do that andnot burn out? How do you have this everyday grind plus this passionproject and still keep high energy?
Mike Denslow:
That's a very good question because I'm not a caffeine person,but it just keeps happening. I don't know. It just must be in theresomewhere, something I was born with. I don't take a lot ofvacation. At the end of the day, my wife and I eat dinner. And thenwe try to relax either on the couch together or sitting outsidetogether. But if it's 15 minutes or an hour and a half, just someamount of time just talking. I mean, undoubtedly, some stuff willcome out from the day kind of a thing, but just that time andthat'd be a time that I would talk to my kids on the phonepotentially, or they would come over or whatever other family.
Paul Casey:
Defrag. Just sort of defrag thing.
Mike Denslow:
Yeah. And I like the creative time. The creative time doesn'tfeel like something that would add to the burnout. So if it's beena crazy week in the mortgage world and a lot of stressfulsituations, creativity will help. And just, "Oh, what about this?What about that?" I've got a million ideas. I've got scripts in myhead. I'm not a writer, but, "Why don't they have a movie likethis? This would be fun." It doesn't stop except musically. I likemusic, but I don't play it. And my singing is lip-sync.
Paul Casey:
Yes, yes. So it's like putting a hot coals on the fire for youwhen you do something creative as an entrepreneur.
Mike Denslow:
Yeah, yeah.
Paul Casey:
And influencers, they're not know-it-alls, they're learners. Sowhere do you go to for the wisest advice? So people here in theTri-Cities, maybe they've been mentors or another idea people, oris it people that maybe in your industry or authors or motivators,where do you go for inspiration and good advice?
Mike Denslow:
I would say definitely not within the industry typically. Imean, I'm looking for self-motivation. I read a good amount andwhen I find something I like, mostly non-fiction, but sometimesfiction as well. I like biographies, that kind of thing. TimFerris, big podcast guy, big author. I like his stuff because it'sshort and sweet. He's got a book, Tools of Titans.
Paul Casey:
Yes, I read that one. 606 pages.
Mike Denslow:
Exactly. But it didn't seem like that because everything wasmaybe three or four pages per person that he interviewed and hejust took the highlights, right.
Paul Casey:
Yes, which is brilliant.
Mike Denslow:
Exactly. It's CliffsNotes from podcasts. And you took all thesesuccessful people and how did they do it? Right. And, "Oh yeah. Ijust want the CliffsNotes. I don't want the full story." That'sbeen a good one. So I would say reading. I've got a lot of goodfriends in Tri-Cities that have done similar things and created abusiness and been successful, that kind of thing. So I likefollowing up with friends and then reading. I think reading isunderrated and I'm not a Kindle guy or anything like that.
Paul Casey:
Hardcover book.
Mike Denslow:
Not just the book and turning the pages. I want the trophy inthe end. Because I've got a room that's got all the books that I'veread and it's the mini study library at the house. And I want toadd the trophy. Every time I finished, I'm going to put a trophy upon the shelf and I'm reading Yogi Berra's biography right now thatmy daughter and her husband gave me for Father's Day. And love it.So different industries, different people. Past, present, whatever,doesn't matter.
Paul Casey:
Yogi Berra. 90% of the game is half mental.
Mike Denslow:
That's right.
Paul Casey:
Those funny little quotes that you will have.
Mike Denslow:
I’ve read up til he's about 26 years old. And he hasn't evenstarted with any of those. He's not known for any of those thingsyet. So I'm ready for those things, but it hasn't happened yet.
Paul Casey:
Tim Ferris, good stuff, tim.blog is where you can get his blog.And Tools of Titans, Tribe of Mentors I read this year,which is another 600-page book, but like Mike said, don't let itintimidate you because it's these little three or four page chunksof these great influencers and their habits. They asked the samequestions actually. So it’s like, "What do you do when you getoverwhelmed? What advice would you give a college student today?How do you say no to people in a respectful way?" And you just getto hear 50 people give the answer.
Mike Denslow:
And ultra successful people, too, right. How did you do it? AndI think the key for him is that we've all looked at that. We've allseen someone, Richard Branson or somebody ultra-successful. Hisbiography was great, by the way. And you look and you're like, "Oh,I wonder how they did it. They must have had rich parents orsomething and just followed them." And then you find out, "Oh no,it was just this one idea. And they pushed it a little bit furtherthan anybody else. And then innovation happened and then everyoneloved it. And they were then ready for that massive growth and theamount of energy." And basically, the planning that it would taketo make that successful. They just wouldn't let it not besuccessful. And a lot of consistency there among most of thepeople.
Paul Casey:
Right, I agree. I agree. You also mentioned earlier in theconversation, your boss and boss's boss are, would you sayinspirational?
Mike Denslow:
Absolutely.
Paul Casey:
So what makes them so inspirational?
Mike Denslow:
Good question. They're very good listeners. And they can wipeeverything clean of what's going on at the time. And at the end ofevery conversation I have with them, they say, "Is there anythingelse that I can do for you right now?"
Paul Casey:
Oh, great question.
Mike Denslow:
And both of them do it. They're both strong, smart females, verywell-known in the mortgage industry, even nationally. My boss hasbeen in it, I'd say, probably about 25 years. And then her boss ismore of 35 years. And so there's just no challenge they're notwilling to take on. And, "Well, I'm having this problem with this."Or, "I'm so frustrated with this." They listen with purpose andthen they act. They don't jump in. Okay, let's solve that problemright here, right. And I try to do that, but I'm still an impatientlistener. I'm getting better. But when I know the answer, "Oh, I'mready. I know what the answer is." And that goes back to elementaryschool and the flashcards. I was killer at that.
Paul Casey:
That should have been your quirky thing we talked about. Youwere a rock star at flashcards.
Mike Denslow:
Okay. Quick Facebook shoutout. Somebody posted a photo of ourthird grade class a couple of years ago. And this one girl, Ihaven't talked to her in 30-plus years. She put on there, "AndDenslow was always killing everybody at the flashcards."
Paul Casey:
You were a fave.
Mike Denslow:
I was like, "Yes."
Paul Casey:
Yeah, it's funny. I did a Tim Ferris and I asked all my coachingclients the three top leadership skills to keep in mind; I wouldsay active listening was the number one answer. I'm just validatingwhat you said with your awesome supervisors.
Mike Denslow:
Well, you think about it. I mean, are you a boss or are you aleader, right? If you've seen the boss that's pulling everyonealong. And then the boss that is sitting in the carriage andeveryone else's pulling them along, what kind of boss are you?
Paul Casey:
Yeah. The leaders are more of the arm-around, so to speak, ofwhat can I do to help you, which is a great posture for a leader.If you had a leadership philosophy that you'd put front and centeron a bulletin board or an entrepreneurial philosophy, I'll goeither side of the brain for you on this one, what would thosemessages say?
Mike Denslow:
Again, man, you're hitting me with the good stuff here. On thecreative side, on the passion project side, nothing is not worthexploring, right. "Oh, that's a dumb idea. Someone would have doneit by now." Oh my gosh, cross that off because we would never haveinnovation if that was the case. And on the work side, I'd go backto the listening piece. And even when it's crazy busy getting thatfocus and that's going to the disconnect of working from home rightnow, is having someone feel your level of focus when you werelistening to them but yet you're not in the same room. Solistening, and no ideas are bad ideas. But explore everything andthen pick the best one.
Paul Casey:
That is good stuff, because that's going to help all newleaders, people that are leading right now grow and gain moreinfluence.
Mike Denslow:
Listen intently, right.
Paul Casey:
Hear, hear. So Mike, how can our listeners best connect with youand connect to Love the Tri?
Mike Denslow:
Well, social media. There's Love the Tri on Facebook andInstagram that I'm updating all the time. Lovethetri.com, I justreleased a new website. What was that? Oh, it's probably been fouror five months now maybe, but that's another place to see ourproducts and kind of the idea of Love the Tri. And thenprofessionally, email mike.denslow@homebridge.com for anything andeverything basically mortgage and real estate related.
Paul Casey:
Fantastic. Thanks for all you do to make the Tri-Cities a greatplace and keep leading well.
Mike Denslow:
Thank you.
Paul Casey:
Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource torecommend. Earlier in the podcast, I talked about the Tribe ofMentors, how to say no. And I just finished a book by WilliamUry, The Power of A Positive No. And the concept of thebook is saying No out of a yes. Out of a yes to your convictionsand your values and maybe even your view of work-life balance. Thenfrom that, you say no, and you do it in a very respectful way andthen you invite people with another yes, so to speak, that allowsthem to not leave your presence feeling all bummed out, but that,"Hey, I tried to set you up for success or build a bridge so youcan still get what you were asking me about accomplished." Love thebook, The Power of A Positive No by William Ury.
Paul Casey:
Again, this is Paul Casey. I want to thank my guest Mike Denslowfrom Homebridge and Love the Tri for being here today on theTri-Cities Influencer Podcast. And we want to thank our TCI sponsorand invite you to support them. We appreciate you making thispossible so we can collaborate to help inspire leaders in ourcommunity. Finally, one more leadership tip for the road to helpyou make a difference. Influencer Travis Bradberry who's the authorof Emotional Intelligence 2.0. He said emotionalself-control is a result of hard work, not an inherited skill. Tillnext time, KGF. Keep growing forward.
Speaker 1:
Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. PaulCasey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providingpractical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their livesand on their teams so that they can enjoy life and leadership andexperience their key desired results. If you'd like more help fromPaul in your leadership development, connect with him atgrowingforward@paulcasey.org for a consultation that can help youaddress your current challenges and create a strategy for growingyour life or your team. Paul would also like to help you restoreyour sanity to your crazy schedule and getting your priorities doneevery day by offering you his free Control my Calendar checklist.Go to takebackmycalendar.com for that productivity tool, or open atext message to seven two zero zero zero, and type the wordGrowing.
Speaker 5:
Tri-Cities influencer podcast was recorded at fuse SPC by BillWagner of Safe Strategies.
