ABOUT TODAY’S GUEST | FI MAZANKE
Fi Mazanke is a successful life and business coach who has had a profound impact on thousands of leaders throughout her career. She spent 12 years working as the right-hand person to the legendary Marty Domitrovich in the Central Region of the Cutco/Vector Marketing sales organization. Eventually, she founded Direct Connect Coaching in order to bring her influence to a much wider-ranging group of people in many walks of life. Fi is on the cutting edge of getting people to explore their strengths and passions, while removing the blocks to allow these gifts to be at the forefront of their lives, both at home and at work.
Q&A WITH FI MAZANKE
Q: I’d really like to hear a little about your background leading up to how you got started with Cutco/ Vector.
- I saw an ad in the newspaper and came in for the interview.
Q: What were some of the early lessons you had through some of your Cutco experiences?
- I started with the company early in the summer and went through the regular training and was quickly invited to attend the first Summer Conference (SC1) which was the best decision I could have made.
- I got to see people doing well.
- I had some of the usual challenges early on, especially handling rejection.
- I also moved into management at an early stage in my career and I tried to mimic my manager when working with the reps I was working with but I remember learning the lesson of learning to be authentic when working with people.
Q: So you got into the Region office within a few years, how did you get into working in the Region office?
- I had a short stint working as a District Manager and I realized that there was something more for me to pursue and at the time it was a bold move to ask Marty Domitrovich for an exit interview.
- I told him that I would love to be the Sales Promotion Manager because I saw a woman doing it all summer but when she had left and another person was moved down from Michigan so the position was already taken.
- I was working at a retail store at a high-end department store to be able to build up my professional wardrobe at a discount and on my way to work one day I got a call from Marty letting me know that the Sales Promotion Manager position had actually opened up and asked me if I wanted it.
- I learned that what I put out there was the ideal job for me and getting to work with Marty side by side for 12 years was an amazing Mentor/ Mentee relationship.
Q: Marty is the very definition of a legend in the Vector/ Cutco business and he was beloved by everyone who worked with him. Tell us a little about your experience working with Marty.
- He took me by the hand and showed me the way.
- He was the ultimate negotiator! He taught me the importance of asking because sometime you get a yes, even on the crazy things.
- Marty took great care of people and gave people chances all the time.
- He was very into culture and expanding the minds of his people through experiences.
Q: What made you decide to head out on your own and start coaching?
- I’m someone who follows the lead of my heart and at the time there was something else calling for me and I didn’t know what it was. I had a meeting with Marty and after that meeting I knew it was my time to move on. I told Marty that I didn’t know what I needed to move onto but I didn’t know what I wanted to move on to.
- Shortly after that meeting an opportunity to become a certified coach came up, and I started doing coaching for the region on an experimental basis.
Q: What lead you to start Direct Connect Coaching?
- I loved working with Vector/ Cutco people but I wanted to expand to a more diverse audience.
- Something I’ve come to realize is that I’ve learned more from my clients than my clients have learned from me.
Q: What are some of the most important principles you share with your clients that you can share with our audience today?
- It’s important to know that you don’t have to live by the conditions and circumstances you’re currently living in. What you can do is hold a higher vision for yourself and your life by one simple question, “what would I love?”
- When your focus is on love, love is your natural state of existence.
- The power of possibility is held in the power of love.
- Craft a vision that speaks to what you would love and rehearse it daily so that you feel it on a daily basis.
- Set your vision and then take action steps toward that vision.
- “What can I do with where I am and what I have?”
- Is this expansive? Then say yes to it. If it feels restrictive than say no.
- What’s a 5 minute power move that I can take toward this vision?
- Take action on inspired ideas.
Q: Something I heard from you was, “when we release our attachment to an outcome we create an opportunity for an even greater outcome.” Could you discuss that a little bit?
- In our minds we think things should go one way but there is a much broader perspective that often comes forward when we open up to the greater outcome.
- Don’t get attached to the way you think it should look. Be open to the possibility that there is something better for you.
- “There’s a seed of grace in every difficulty.”
Q: As you look down the road 5-10 years, what are you most excited about for the future?
- I have a great deal of enthusiasm for the movement of directly connecting people to the power of possibility.
- I want to start a movement so that people know there is so much potential inside each and every one of us.
FINAL THOUGHTS
- We don’t have to live from conditions and circumstances.
- We have the power to set our own intentions.
- What would I love to have happen in this situation? (What is the ideal outcome in this situation?)
- Back that up with action steps. “What can I do with where I am and with what I have?”
- Release our attachment to outcomes and consider an even greater possibility.
- What’s the seed of grace in every challenge?
SHOW RESOURCES
CUTCO/VECTOR TERMS
- Region Office- a Cutco/ Vector office responsible for a team of Division Managers.
- Division Manager- a Cutco/ Vector manager who runs a team of District and Branch Managers as well as their own “Pilot Office.”
- District Manager- a Cutco/ Vector office/ manager that runs a year-round office full time.
- Fast Start Contest- a contest new Cutco reps get for their first 10 days on the job.
- Summer Conference (1 & 2): a sales conference designed around competition (push period trophies are awarded), education, and inspiration.
Show Notes provided by Carlo Cipollina
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