Last Friday, I Offered A Waitress $100 To Quit Her Job…

This weekend, I was in San Antonio, speaking at Pat O’Bryan’s UnSeminar5. Somehow, I had found Pat O’Bryan on Twitter during my recent foray into Internet marketing, and when he announced he had two Erics speaking at his UnSeminar, I told him he needed an Erica, too.

Of course, Pat had no idea who I was, so I sent him an email. I wrote the following:

“I am 26 years old, and recently sold my Internet-based business (a web hosting company) for $1.1 million. I started my web hosting company at age 20, having little or no concept of how to run a business, and very much ‘flew by the seat of my pants’ for a few years!

In a commoditized industry with over 20,000 companies competing in an often cutthroat manner, I grew my business from $0 to over $1 million per year in revenue — without taking on any investors, and while spending less than $25,000 on marketing (most of which was wasted money!)

How did I do it? That’s what I’d like to address by speaking at your seminar.”

That seemed to do the trick, as Pat sent me an email back saying simply, “ok. you’re on.”

I flew out to San Antonio, not knowing quite what to expect. What I got was life-changing–an unbelievable breakthrough.

But let’s get back to the restaurant.

Dateline: Friday, July 25

For dinner on Friday night (the first night of the conference), several of us from the conference went to a local Persian restaurant for dinner. I ordered the shrimp kabob. Our server brought out a salmon kabob instead. I sent it back, since it was obviously an incorrect order, and she graciously apologized and brought out a shrimp kabob a few minutes later.

I assumed all was well until we received the bill, and I didn’t get one. When I asked what was going on, our server said sadly that her manager had forced her to pay for my incorrect order out of her wages. I said that was unacceptable and asked her to bring me the bill. Looking at me with wide eyes, she took my credit card and did so.

I explained to the others at the table what had just happened, and none of us could believe it. Even with close to 20 of us at the restaurant, our average tab per each person was only $12-$15, meaning she would likely only gross a bit over $50 in tips. Putting a $15 dent in that seemed a terrible way to “pay” for an honest mistake she had made.

When our server came back with my credit card, I turned around, looked her in the eyes, and said “I’ll pay you $50 to quit.”

The Moment of Decision

She looked like she hadn’t quite heard me correctly. I pressed on. “No one deserves that treatment. If you stay here, you’re saying it’s okay for you to be treated like that. It’s completely unacceptable.”

She looked around the table to see if this was some sort of practical joke. Seeing nothing but serious faces, she looked back at me. I could tell she was going over the situation in her mind. Finally, she blurted out, “But won’t it be, like, bad karma if I leave?”

“No,” I said.”You’ll be showing respect for yourself. You do not deserve this.” People around the table were nodding in agreement.

“I can’t…” she said, and started to walk away.

“Fine.” I replied. “I’ll up it to $100. And I’ll give you cash, right here. But you have to agree to quit within 24 hours.”

James (another guy at the table) joined in. “I’ll take you out with us if you turn in your notice right now, and buy you drinks tonight.”

“I can’t do that,” she said. Then, almost as an afterthought, she said, “I don’t plan to keep this job much longer anyway.”

I shrugged, left her a $3 tip, and left the restaurant.

The Universe Is Ready To Show You The Way

I relayed this story to several others at the table. As we were walking back to her hotel, Tony Laidig said something I’ll never forget: “I would have paid her $100, too, just to see her take action.”

What’s the takeaway of this story?

You create your reality and circumstances. If you let someone have power over you — especially if that person is abusive and/or making bad decisions — without standing up for yourself, what you are saying to the universe is: “Universe, this abuse is okay with me.” This takes your power away.

When you choose to step up and say “Universe, I’m ready to make my own decisions and not let anyone else control or abuse me,” the Universe sends you everything you need to achieve your goals. In this case, had our server decided to quit, she would have received cash, supportive friends, and most importantly, a feeling of confidence that she had embraced her power.

Taking This Lesson to Heart

The lessons we see that others need to learn are often the ones we need to learn, too. I realized that the core issue I needed to address was to fully embrace my power.

I examined how I could fully embrace my power. I realized that this blog’s header (the paragraph at the top of every page my blog that explains who I am) could use some tweaking. Instead of just saying I am “temporarily retired”, what if I embraced my power and explained that I had sold my business for $1.1 million at age 26? So I changed it.

I then realized that my Twitter profile had the same problem. My profile previously said “opportunity innovation inspiration.” It’s an obscure reference to the names of the new businesses I’m starting, but I realized it was not attracting followers. So I changed it to “Sold my business for $1.1 million. Now I teach you how to make millions — www.erica.biz.”

I gained over 100 new Twitter followers this weekend via UnSeminar5 — but also because I embraced my power and acknowledged who I am.

You are what you acknowledge yourself to be. If you “play it small” and don’t tell anyone your achievements, they will never know what an amazing person you are. They will not be blessed by your presence and energy.

To succeed, you must be ready to show the world what you’ve achieved — and help others up to that level, too. And you must be willing to let go of those who will never acknowledge your power, beauty, passion, and presence.

What can you do today to step up and embrace your power?

Next on my list: Learning how to dance!

Recommended Reading:

• How To Be A Successful, Inspirational Woman
• How To Acknowledge Yourself 101
• The Attractor Factor by Joe Vitale
• Here’s How To Become Rich: Deliver Value. Change The World.