A few weeks ago we had the 2008 Infusion User’s Conference held in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was AWESOME! This is the third year we have held the conference and it was great to reconnect with old friends/customers and meet so many new members of the Infusion family. Small business and entrepreneur uber-guru Michael Gerber was the keynote speaker on the second day. It was great to be inspired by Michael again. He was a keynote speaker last year too. I have also had the great personal benefit and pleasure of having attended an In the Dreaming Room session with Michael early last year held in Napa Valley, California. Listening to Michael again at the conference reminded me of many of the things I learned in the Dreaming Room.
The experience literally changed my life.
I attended the Dreaming Room with Scott Martineau, the founder of Infusion and our Vice President of Product Management and David William Lee, our Vice President of Marketing. Michael introduced us to the concept of “intentional dreaming” and he startled me out of my state of relative sleep to see things completely diferently. I actually “woke up” from my day-to-day state of “waking sleep” to really, intentionally dream and discover the meaning of what I am doing personally, and what we are doing at Infusion.
Michael’s Dreaming Room changed Infusion also. Scott, Dave and I came back from the Dreaming Room with our minds blown. We felt like we were in a different universe with regard to thinking bigger and with more meaning than we ever had before. We returned to the office with a new sense of purpose. A few months after the three of us went to the Dreaming Room, our President Clate Mask and Sam Blackham our Director of Finance attended an In the Dreaming Room session with Michael. Same result!
As the leaders of Infusion we all put our heads together and re-tooled our company, particurally with regard to the meaning of why were building Infusion to serve small businesses. Clate later created our Dream, Vision, Purpose and Mission as follows:
Dream:
Revolutionize the way small businesses drive and manage their growth.
Vision:
Infusion will be THE sales and marketing software program small businesses use to grow their companies quickly and profitably.
Purpose:
Liberate and empower small businesses and their employees so they can enjoy doing business, wow their customers and better serve their families and communities
Mission:
To create the leading sales and marketing software program for small business that is easy to use and powerful enough to turn small businesses into big businesses.
It is not hard to see our focus and commitment to small business. We sometimes say that we are “stubbornly small business.” Michael taught us how to intentionally dream and it has made a tremendous difference, both for me personally and for Infusion. I can’t recommend the Dreaming Room highly enough. Thanks, Michael.
Hi Marc, I think it sounds like a great process that you went through in The Dreaming Room, but I’m confused about the outcome. Your statements don’t seem that “dramatic” enough for your rave, so I’m struggling to understand the transformation that you went through. Was it just in getting focus for your organization or was it in specific processes? I’ve been through tons of these things and am somewhat skeptical, no doubt. Just wondering what the long-term sustainability is beyond the excitement of the experience and the event?
Hello Kae and thanks for your good questions. As for the long-term sustainability beyond the excitement of the experience, I attended the Dreaming Room in February, 2007 and I’m still going strong today. I can certainly understand your skepticism given some of the tripe floating around in the marketplace today. Like you, I have attended many executive training/motivation seminars; some much better than others. I also read a ton of books on these topics. Without a doubt, the Dreaming Room is in another league altogether.
As I mentioned in the post above, the experience changed my life. I don’t know how much more dramatic I can get than that. Michael has a unique way of cutting through all the layers of typical nonsense to get to what is really important, what is really meaningful – and then he starts drilling! :-)
I hope this helps and I wish you luck in all your future endeavors.
The “dreaming” technique sounds worth investigating. I have used imaging and positive affirmations effectively for years. I have even dabbled in self-hypnosis and meditation, and gotten great benefits from all. I find that any technique that helps you master your own brain can be powerful. We understand so little about how to harness our own brain power.
Thanks for sharing this, Marc.
And PS, I missed this year’s conference, but can’t wait for next year’s.
Anita