My adventures in New York City (Day 1)

I love traveling!

And due my success in life I have been able to travel to some amazing places, from Europe to Costa Rica to a remote Fijian island and many more in between.

However there has been one place I have always wanted to go to but never had a reason to take me there… the Big Apple, New York City.

Fortunately for me I had an event to attend in New Jersey and thought it was a perfect opportunity to go into Manhattan and spend a few days wetting my taste buds on the big city.

And it has been amazing (and I've only been here for a day so far!) - in fact I am going to keep a running diary for you. (With some valuable business and marketing lesson thrown in.)

Day 1 (Monday, April 28th)

Leaving New Brunswick, New Jersey

Living in Dallas, I am used to hopping in a car and driving everywhere. However up here everybody takes public transportation. So I got my first taste today in getting from "Jersey" to my hotel up in the Times Square area.

And in the process, had a CRAZY (and funny) first experience in New York.

After much discussion with several people from the area I met at the event I was attending - they all had an opinion on the best way to get to where I was going which was the Westin Hotel in Times Square. (I am a Starwoods Hotel member because they have the best travel rewards program and customer service so I make it a point to stay at one of their hotels wherever I go.)

So I end up taking the bus, instead of the train, and arrive at the Port Authority Terminal in Manhattan.

So far so good.

Here is the funny part.

I walk out of that massive terminal and get a cab. Now, although I was told my hotel would be close by I didn't want to wheel my suitcase all over the place while trying to figure this city out for the first time.

As it turns out, this is his first day to ever drive a cab and I am his first customer. Yeah, it is going to be "interesting!"

I tell him I am going to the Westin hotel on 43rd street at Times Square.

He thinks I said I am going to the West End.

He starts driving and we don't even go half a block and I see the hotel. It was only a block from the station!!

The only problem, he takes a left and heads away from the hotel while looking at his MapQuest book to figure out where this "West End" area is at.

I try to explain that I was mistaken and the hotel was basically across the street from the station and we need to go back there.

We eventually do one big circle and he drops me off where he picked me up, $6 cab fee included.

I am officially welcomed to New York!!

When I go into the hotel I get to go straight to the Starwood Gold member line and a very friendly lady informs me that I was automatically upgraded for free to a Corner Room. Cool, I get upgrades the majority of the time, Starwoods is great, check them out at www.spg.com

I drop my stuff off in my room, quickly pull up a map on my computer to figure out how to get to the place I am doing my video shoot at.

It is about 1.5 miles away. I decide to walk there since I have plenty of time and that turned out to be an excellent decision.

New York (Manhattan) is one of the few (if any cities) you can pretty much walk anywhere.

And being a first time visitor is was an amazing experience to walk the city. I have never seen so many people and so much concentration of buildings and stuff.

Every block has a pizza by the slice, Starbucks, electronics store and hot dog stand.

I stop to get a slice of New York pizza and it was divine, extra grease and all.

Then I arrive at the video studio to be interviewed for the upcoming site www.HomeBusinessBrains.com

Alan and Marcel did an excellent job extracting as much information out of me during our 3 hours together. Definitely check out their site when they launch later this summer - it will be loaded with professional done interviews with at least 5 dozen or more top experts in home business.

My favorite part was before and after the shoot - getting to know those guys better and seeing how similar our stories and experiences in life are.

I head back to the hotel to get changed and ready for one of several highly anticipated parts of my trip.

Going to Jazz Standard.

This is a Jazz Club and barbecue restaurant started by famous New York restaurateur Danny Meyer.

I first read about Mr. Meyer and his award winning New York restaurants and more importantly his passionate commitment to the customer experience (he calls it Enlightened Hospitality) in the book Little Giants. Then, next, I read his own book called Setting The Table.

Needless to say, I was REALLY looking forward to experiencing several of his restaurants while I was in New York and Jazz Standard was my first.

Before I share what happened, let me say that coming from Dallas I have had some amazing BBQ and am pretty picky. And also I have never been to a real jazz club before and know nothing about Jazz. I had no idea what to expect.

I ended up getting seated at the same table as 5 college music art students (I was the 6 person at the table). They let me know that the group that night, Ambrose Akinmusire Project, would be intense. I was a bit nervous… until the food arrived.

I got the rib sampler and it was phenomenal. Their Texas salt and pepper rubbed beef ribs are nothing like I have ever tried before - I was in heaven, and the other ribs were great too. And I washed it all down with an ice cold Belgium white beer.

And the music….

I know nothing about Jazz, but I do know what I listened to was amazing. At one point it almost brought tears to my eyes hearing 4 artists (each of them experts in their instrument) create something amazing up on that stage. And the college musicians I was surrounded by were even more impressed.

I left on cloud nine - Day 1 was a success (despite my crazy cab experience, which I found hilarious even when it was happening.)

To sum my first day in New York up… I have fallen in love at first site with the city.

My two favorite North American cities are New York and Vancouver. It is one of my goals to have vacation condos in both places within the next few years.

What were the marketing lessons?

- When things don't go as planned, instead of letting it get you frustrated and upset (a bunch of unsupporting negative emotions) find the good and humor in it.

- Doing more than your competitors to give your customers a great experience creates very strong customer loyalty. I will stay at a Starwoods member hotel whenever possible because they do the best job of taking care of their customers.

- Find your passion and become the best at it.

- 2 great business books to read are Little Giants and Setting The Table.

- If your business is excellent and goes above and beyond your competitors at the experience it provides your customers, your customers will talk about you - and with the Internet your customer's voice can become VERY strong. (Just look at this blog post as an example.)

~ Kevin