This page is dedicated to exactly what it says - examples of situations in which individuals went the extra mile, showing us their strength, their integrity, their determination, their guts. They are examples which I hope will excite, inspire, and challenge us to go deep within ourselves to find whatever it takes to go the extra mile any time that we need to overcome obstacles, dig ourselves out of despair, and surge forward to whatever represents success for us in our particular circumstances.

I need your help!! I hope to keep this page frequently updated, so that it may be something you can turn to whenever you have need of inspiration. To that end, when you encounter such accounts, and are sure they are factual, please e-mail them to me with Extra Mile in the subject line. Please be sure to let me know your name, the source and author of the material and whether it is copyrighted. If you have their contact information please include that also. I do not want to steal other people's material, but, rather, showcase it.

Let's spread the word. When someone you know needs encouragement, send them the URL of this page. 

In order to get this new endeavor off to a speedy start I am including a number of pieces from past issues of my e-zine Work in Progress, as well as more current material. I hope that you will enjoy it, and will return to discover what is new.

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The extra miles leads to business success: A recent issue of the weekly newsmagazine Newsweek pays tribute, unfortunately, as so often happens, posthumously, to someone who went the extra mile back in 1977. Harry Quadracci had a small printing press in Wisconsin.  Not usually a supplier to Newsweek, he took an urgent order when they were unable to get work done by their regular printer. They sent him the layouts, but the plan was diverted by a snowstorm. Unable to trace the package, Newsweek staff called him "in distress." They discovered that, despite the weather, he had already sent a car through the blizzard to claim the package, and that the job was already being printed.  One might say that Quadracci went the extra mile. Certainly it paid off handsomely, because he later became a regular supplier for the huge publication. But he did not know that when he proactively challenged the snowstorm. For all he knew, as soon as the magazine's temporary problems with their regular suppliers were over he might never hear from them again. But he did it anyway.

Going the extra mile does not always pay off so handsomely as it did in this case. But in terms of personal and business growth, of the growing feeling of confidence that we experience when we stretch ourselves, it pays off every time.

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The extra mile in customer service:

WORK IN PROGRESS
Vol. II, Issue 15, August 1, 1998

"My support from you also doesn't end when the coaching session is over. I am very appreciative of how generous you are in your availability for responses to issues between coaching sessions via email." (Client)

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LESSONS FROM LIFE - THE EXTRA MILE

I handed him a twenty dollar bill for $10.10 worth of gas (petrol)
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"Do you have ten cents?" he asked.
"Yes, if you're short of change, but I really need change because there's a coffee machine at work that doesn't like dollar bills."

He handed me the ninety cents change and then, unasked, started sorting carefully through his stack of dollar bills.  He paused once, apparently realizing he seemed slow, and explained, "I'm looking for the ones the machine is most likely to take." Carefully, he handed me the cleanest, crispest bills he had selected.

"Maybe these will work," he said. (They did.)

There are four gas stations about equidistant from my home. Which one do you think I'll be using in the future?

Do you sometimes think that your job does not really affect your company's customers provided you are reasonably polite and do what you are paid to do? Or do you, like that gas station attendant (who probably earns only minimum wage) go the extra mile, and attract more return customers for your employer?

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The extra mile out of sheer determination!

WORK IN PROGRESS
Vol. II, Issue 18, September 15, 1998

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UNSTOPPABLE

I do not often use this space for book reviews. However, when I find a book that I believe will be inspiring reading for almost every reader of Work in Progress, then I believe it would be irresponsible if I did not let you know about it.

The book about which I am so enthusiastic right now is UNSTOPPABLE by Cynthia Kersey. At first glance this may appear to be yet another book of brief cameos of achievers over adversity, whose stories cannot help but be an inspiration to anyone. However, in this case not only does the author give us the stories of how the 45 central characters overcame their difficulties to reach success, but she groups them by the characteristics that she believes led to their successes. THEN, for each of the seven characteristics, she provides a Plan of Action for developing that characteristic. Not just the WHO, but the WHAT and the HOW.

We meet successful people who overcame major handicaps, or, like the founders of the Holiday Inn chain, and of Domino's Pizza, rose from "ordinary" beginnings to major business success. Very significantly, we also read of those whose focus is more directly on making the world a better place--the founder of Habitat for Humanity, individuals who have organized local groups to save dying neighborhoods, a mother who pioneered an organization that now sends more than 60,000 pieces of mail a year to sick children.  One of its brief vignettes tells of Legson Kayira, a teenager from Nyasaland.  Legson's dream was to get a college education in the United States.  He set off on foot to walk the 3,000 miles to Cairo, in hopes of getting to the USA from there.  He was barefoot, possessed a five-day supply of food, a small ax, a blanket, and two books.  He had no money, no contacts, no visa, no boat ticket.  He knew the names of no American colleges, but he knew what he wanted to do.  Believe it or not, he made it, arriving in the United States over two years later.  Eventually he became an author and a professor of political science at Cambridge University in England.

What attracts me to this book above many others is the Plan of Action in each section that gives step by step activities to guide readers in the development of each of the seven characteristics that the author believes were vital to the success of the people whose stories she tells.

To read more about these characteristics, see my review at http://choicecoach.com/11BookPage/BookPage.htm. From there I have also included a direct link to Amazon.com in case you wish to order the book for yourself.

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The extra mile despite early deprivation:

A REMARKABLE WOMAN

How surprised would you be to read that it was a woman who pioneered the franchise system as we know it today - a woman whose parents 'bound her out' as a servant when she was age seven (yes, that IS seven, not seventeen)?  A woman who opened her own business against the prejudices of local society in 1888, and by 1927 had a network of over 500 independently owned shops across not just the USA but the world?

I'm writing of Martha Matilda Harper, who developed The Harper Method of caring for skin and hair based not just on external beauty applications, but on the belief that beauty results from good health and spiritual harmony.

This extraordinary woman's vision was to enable women, many of whom who would otherwise have spent their lives as house-servants, to become independent business owners - and she saw her vision manifested in reality.

As with the franchise systems that we know today, she trained and supported her franchisees in the initial phases of their business, even setting up a separate training organization (shades of "Hamburger University"). Many of her "girls" lived in her own house while going through their training. So as to ensure quality control, she advised on furnishings and decor, published an ongoing newsletter, conducted Harper "Reunions" that were both educational and motivational in theme, and required that Harper products and The Harper Method of application and massage be rigorously adhered to.

Harper was a master of networking and by the time a Harper Method shop opened in a new city it often had eager customers awaiting it, having heard of or experienced their service elsewhere. Customers of The Harper Method included celebrities of the time, royalty, and presidents and their wives.  Jacqueline Kennedy received Harper Method treatments in the White House and Ladybird Johnson is also believed to have been a Harper customer.

The Harper watchword was customer satisfaction.  Some Harper shops even provided play areas for children - both as a service to the customers and because Martha was wisely aware that children are future customers (long before the days of Joe Camel!).  Ethical treatment of customers, franchisees, and employees was her bottom line, and congruence with her spiritual beliefs her guiding light.

Harper died in 1950. Her business had gone into a decline after she retired, due partly to a change in focus by her husband, who took over the business, and partly to the economic climate of the times.  In 1972 the company and training operation were taken over by a competitor who promptly closed them.  Loss of the Harper products and of new staff to take over from those who retired has resulted in an ongoing closing of Harper Method shops.

Martha Matilda Harper achieved great things, and was an undoubted pioneer in the beauty industry.  Yet, probably because she was a female, she receives barely a note in the history books.  She is rarely acknowledged for her contribution to the development of the franchising process.

Let's see now... had to work as a servant from the age of seven, no childhood education, lived in an age when women "were not" business owners... and built a world-wide business with over 500 branches. Next time you face a challenge, I suggest you think of Martha Matilda Harper, and know that you CAN do it!

Author Jane R. Plitt has recently written a biography of Harper, "Martha Matilda Harper and the American Dream: How one Woman changed the Face of Modern Business." To read more about it, and to order it if you wish. Go

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The extra mile in graciousness:

WORK IN PROGRESS
Vol. V, Issue 1, January 1, 2001

LEMONS AND LEMONADE

Many of us are familiar with the expression "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Lemons, in this case, are referred to as a negative because of their sourness, and the common use of the word to imply"something that goes wrong."

So, when things go wrong, make the best of them. Sometimes that sounds a bit corny. When we are stuck in a bad situation, the last thing many of us are in the mood to do is step back and look for the opportunities to "make lemonade." Some of us positively revel in our anger or distress.

Just to provide some inspiration, here's a wonderful example from an entertainment star of such stature that she could probably throw any kind of temper tantrum she wanted and no one would be surprised.

But she didn't.

My newspaper tells me that earlier last month actress Whoopi Goldberg's tour bus was stopped for speeding.  Obviously, the driver, not Whoopi, was responsible.  The star might be excused for anger at the delay while the driver filled out paperwork and posted bond at the local jail.  Instead, she not only chatted with, and signed autographs for, the jail staff members, but she also visited the female jail inmates to give them an off the cuff motivational talk.

That's making lemonade!

What can you do about your lemons? How can I help you?

When was the last time you got 30 FREE minutes to talk about YOU and only you? Give yourself the gift of a half-hour of free coaching by phone, with the focus being entirely on YOU, on your dreams and how to attain them, on your obstacles and how to overcome them. My promise to you:  No sales pitch, no obligation, no pesky follow-ups.  To request your free coaching call now, click here.