Ben RidlerSitting aboard a flight from LA to NZ and reflecting on the last 11 days in North America, which included 2 days strategic planning, 7 in seminars with 4 to 6 speakers per day, my current days in seminars this year to date now sits at 20 something. Verne Harnishstates that those who learn the most win. I think it's those who execute the best, but I'm trying to cover all the bases. Of course as I was with entrepreneurs the whole time, there were also the 8 evening sessions where we reflect on the days learnings with serious contemplation, Bourbon St, New Orleans and the 12 floor of Hotel ZaZa proving perfect venues for this.

When you have a profound learning experience you become a different person. One of the speakers caused that aha moment, the blinding flash of the obvious for me on this trip, as Tom Peters did earlier this year many times. Thank you again to Tom and thank you now to Simon Sinek for reminding me Why.

The trip was started with a couple of days visiting with the fantastic team at Results.com Calgary, walking our talk and spending 2 days working on our strategic plan for the next stage of our Canadian expansion. The new RESULTS.com Calgary offices are stunning and the new clients coming aboard will be working with one of the highest calibre teams there is. Scott, John, Tim and the team are going to have huge impacts on the companies that they touch, expect a lot of success stories to come from this office. Also it was great to reconnect with Stephen Lynch in person vs. via skype, we miss you in NZ buddy, but you are doing us proud in North America.

From there I went to the Gazelles growth summit in New Orleans to hang out with Verne Harnish and the gazelles coaching team, 3 days of full-on learning with 250 other entrepreneurs. All of which was spent with my friend and colleague Greg D'Amico whose contribution to our business you will hear a lot about in the coming months (another space to watch). I'll do a report on the highlights of the speakers and learnings in my next blog, including what it means if someone "goes Chet Holmes" on you. (It's not a good thing)

Last but by no means least, Greg and I went to then on to The EO (Entrepreneurs Organisation) Texas Round Up in Houston where we joined up with Resuits.com's own Simon Mundell who had just presented a seminar in Canada and was also presenting at the Texas Roundup. There were more than 300 EO members (super cool and successful entrepreneurs) mainly from Texas and the surrounding areas. The time I spent with these truly inspiring, big thinking people was a fantastic experience. Seeing Simon present our RESULTS.com "stuff" to them and having it so well received was very humbling (and I don't often do humble). The Texans were also the most gracious hosts you could wish for. Hotel ZaZa rocks and if this is how they party in a recession, I don't know I'd survive visiting in a boom.

This was the big lesson – "Attitude is everything". Yep there is a recession on, and some of the people there were feeling it, big time! But these guys are about "having a go". They live in a country that stands for having a go – in Texas, that means a big go! They weren't whining, they were determined, driven, committed, capable and oozed confidence. I've come away knowing that whatever happens to the corporate sector in the US, the US entrepreneurs will never let anything like a recession hold them back for long. If the rest of the world wants to close the gap, we need to learn how to think bigger than Texas.

Cheers Y'alll

Ben