Meet Neil Rogers

We recently connected with Neil Rogers and have shared our conversation below.

Neil, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

When I worked behind the bar, that’s really where I started to build my confidence and self-esteem. It wasn’t just about serving drinks; it was about dealing with all kinds of people and situations. You never knew what was going to happen on any given night, and that unpredictability forced me to learn how to think on my feet, keep calm under pressure, and communicate clearly.

It was behind that bar where I realized the importance of connecting with people. I had to build rapport quickly, read the room, and adapt to different personalities—all while keeping things running smoothly. There were moments when things could get a little chaotic, but I learned to trust myself, to handle the pressure, and find solutions in real time.

Those experiences shaped how I approach sales and life. I gained the confidence to believe that if I could handle all that with a smile, I could face any challenge thrown my way. It wasn’t just about selling drinks, it was about building relationships, understanding people, and keeping a positive attitude. All those little moments added up and became the foundation for the way I handle business and interact with others. That’s really where my self-esteem and belief in my abilities started to grow.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

For the past 37 years I have been in Sales and Marketing prior to that I was a Bartender navigating my way through college. While we continue running our Promotional Marketing (SWAG) business we have branched out to share some of the things that has made us successful. We do that with my book BarTips “Everything I Needed to Know in Sales I Learned behind the Bar” , it’s associated guidebook and our Positive Activity(tm) program. Positive Activity is the sum total of what we have learned over the years to be successful both professionally and personally. This was developed by my wife Lori and I. Over the past 15 years Lori has taught me the importance of getting your mindset right. We do this through the practice of yoga, diet, other forms of exercise and daily activities scientifically proven to raise our happiness level. This allows us to tackle everything that comes our way including all that goes on with our child with Autism. Frankly, it is this practice that brought us to find the most significant intervention that we have use with him to date, Spelling to Communicate. Had we been “oh poor me” folks it is likely we would not have been open to try this simple yet brilliant life changing program. Within our Positive Activity speaking and mentoring program we do include caregiving for Special Needs people. Furthermore, I take personal gratification working with young people that share my story and guide them in the simple fundamental steps to help them get to the next step.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

While being challenged academically was not much fun, it did prompt me to find out how I learn. Therefore, after flunking out of two, count them two community colleges my self esteem was at it’s low point. What could I be good at? Why am I having such a challenge figuring out what I can do and if I figured it out, how will I get there without schooling? When decided to try Bartending, primarily because I thought it was cool, I had an Ah Ha moment. Upon pouring my first drink for a customer I received positive feedback about the drink. Hmm, maybe I have found something I could be good at. I continued bartending however, realized that it was not going to be my life’s work. So what then? Well if I knew of Howard Gardner’s book “The Frames of Mind” I would have found out that I have Interpersonal Intelligence, mixed with Intrapersonal Intelligence and a dash of Musical Intelligence. Therefore, because others noticed this as well, I was encouraged to move into sales. One thing still to get, A DEGREE! I went back to yet another community college, however, this time with a vision and a passion. How do I overcome this problem? Well I developed a process, an algorithm in todays parlance and it goes something like this. 1. Show up 2. Actively Listen 3. Take notes 4. Ask Clarifying questions 5. Go to office hours 6. do the extra work 7. Participate 8. be on time 9. be organized. I went from a twice flunked out student to a dean list student graduating with my bachelors degree from a 4 year college. Then I took this same process, much of which I learned behind the bar, on the road in each of my successful endeavors. My suggestion to your readers is to keep going in a positive direction, incremental changes lead to big results. While there are more than 3 parts to my process, they are all simple yet powerful in nature. I would suggest they remain cognizant of all of these points and they are simply practiced in everyday life. As an example, be on time, it shows respect for your friends, family, employer and customers. Avoid getting time named after you because you are always late, we all know one like that and people say they are on “Smith Time”!

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

As the seventh of eight of an Irish Catholic family, early on there really was not a lot of guidance. Therefore, the most important person in my journey, was me. Now, let me be clear, I don’t harbor any bad feelings with my parents or siblings for this. It was chaotic and let’s just say, I was not all too coachable. So  I really, had to rely on myself to “figure it out”. There were many people along the way that were influential to my success first and foremost being my wife Lori. To this day it remains a mystery how the self absorbed, obnoxious seemingly going nowhere bartender and this accomplished driven woman got together. There were also many mentors/positive role models along the way. Jamie Tipping while I was in the bar business, the Jim Gallahue who taught me humility, Bill and Brian Kittredge who taught me so much about being a professional sales person. My kids, my daughter Amanda teaches me something new every time we speak, my special boy Craig teaches me to be strong and move forward, my buddy and youngest Cameron reminds me to be serious, but also have fun. Most recently my music teacher Lindsay Rinaldi and music guru Jon Aldrich both remind it’s good to be a life long learner. And finally to my many exercise guru’s Bill Sykes on the bike, Meghan, Lauren, Haley, Sarah and countless others in the yoga/Pilates studios. What do they say? it takes a village.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://positiveactivty.net
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-p-rogers-cas-68a4a22/