Business

A Reminder About Resolutions

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This is kinda last minute for advice or ideas concerning New Year’s resolutions. You probably already have them listed, and you’re (hopefully) excited about getting started first thing in the morning.
This is more of a reminder than anything else. A little insight to keep in mind as you launch out into 2011.
Ever thought about the word “resolution?”
One of the definitions is  “the act of determining.”
It’s root word is resolve, a word which can mean “fixity of purpose.”Here’s the point. A resolution is NOT:

  1. something you wish could happen
  2. an activity you’d like to do
  3. a goal you hope to achieve.

A resolution is something that you’ve decided will happen. That means, if you say you’re going to write a blog post every day in the coming year, and give up on January 15th, you didn’t make a New Year’s resolution. You didn’t truly resolve to do blog daily. You had a wish, or a goal.

I don’t mean to sound harsh. But I do want you to take your future seriously. I want you to firmly resolve to accomplish big things, and take action to make those things happen.

What’s vitally important to you right now? In life and business?

Clarity of vision and being honest with yourself about what you truly want deep down are important to finding fulfillment. So pick something that you really want. Resolve to have it or do it. Choose right now to do whatever is necessary (within the bounds of your morality and the law) to succeed. Chart a path to your objective, and follow up with action.

2011 could very well be the greatest year of your life. Don’t leave that up to chance. And don’t approach it half-heartedly. Be resolute when you make your resolutions.

It will make a tangible difference in your results. I guarantee it.

P.S. Happy New Year!!

Arthur’s Advertising Wars, or Why You Don’t Want to Compete on Price

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You can learn a lot from cartoons. I have 4 kids in the house, so I know.

Marc Brown’s classic cartoon Arthur teaches us a business lesson we should all heed. Competing on price is a losing proposition.

The entire episode is enjoyable, but the business fun starts about 5 minutes in.

So, do you still want to be the low price leader in your field?

Start-Up Advice

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I spoke with a new internet marketing student the other day. During the conversation, I gave some advice that I think is pretty doggone profound.

Here’s what I said:

“Just take it one step at a time, and keep moving forward.”

Deep, huh?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not minimizing how difficult it can be to get a business endeavor off the ground. That grind that comes at the beginning can wear down the toughest guys and gals out there. A lot of the time it does.

Studies show that as many as 9 out of 10 of business start-ups fail within the first 5 years. Ugly odds. So I’m not saying this is easy.

What I am saying is that success doesn’t happen by accident. You have to figure out the steps it will take to get you where you want to go. That in itself can be really difficult. How do you know what needs to happen? Who should you listen to?

I won’t go into depth on that here, except to say that you should be cautious taking advice from people that are not successful themselves. That success should be in your chosen field or one where the lessons are translatable.

Next, take one step at a time. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Put one foot ahead of the other, and get steady before you start to make your next move.

Then, keep stepping forward. Concentrate your efforts and conquer each step along your path to the promise land. One step after the other.

Sometimes you can make leaps rather than little steps. But don’t get over-anxious. Once you’re fully focused on what you’re doing, you’ll recognize your opportunities when they come.

If you follow the basic formula (determine needed steps — take one step at a time — keep moving forward) success becomes easier and more predictable.

Two Fatal Flaws: Fix These or Fail

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Real quick,

Let me mention 2 dispositions that will KILL your ability to succeed in any area of your life, from relationships to football (go Bears!) to business.

1. Lack of motion. If you’re not willing to get off your butt and do something, you will fail. Period. We humans are so stuck in our comfort zones. Gary Halbert told Joe Polish that he’s convinced that people will work harder to stay in their comfort zones more than they will to save their own lives. Although I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say that (although I’m a huge fan of  this kind of exaggeration), you get the idea.

There’s nothing to fear but fear itself. We certainly let that baseless fear hold us back, don’t we? Time to shake that off your shoulder pads. You have to take action. Gary Halbert also told Joe Polish that the difference between losers and winners is motion.

2. Unwillingness to learn. There’s plenty to learn in every part of life. Get the foundational knowledge you need to get where you want to go. Find a map, if you will. As you move forward, you have to be willing to learn even more.

Always be teachable. Learn from your experiences, both victories and failures. Learn from the experience of others.

If you won’t take action of if you refuse to be a continual learner, don’t count on achieving your loftiest goals, My money is on the other guy.

 

When Ego Gets in the Way

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I recently heard business mastermind/success coach Dan Pena comment that high performance individuals all have big egos. He asserts that this is a major reason that they are successful.

I partially agree.

Just for fun, let’s take a look at an extemporaneous case study. That is, I’m making this up as we go. We’ll take a look at the once and future infamous villain, Skeletor.

This is inspired by the fact that yesterday I watched the 1980’s movie Masters of the Universe. The acting was corny, the special effects were lame (compared to what we’re used to seeing now), and really, the plot was fairly weak and unrealistic. A lot of unrealized potential, if you ask me.

Still, Skeletor’s character fascinated me, despite the goofy mask. This guy was one of the best examples of megalomania that I’ve ever seen. (I just can’t help liking egotistical characters.)

Check out this excerpt from the movie:

In my youth, I was an athlete. These days, I’m an entrepreneur trying to build my little empire. I have a bit of an ego. Sometimes, and in some ways, that’s a good thing.

However, a few reasons come to mind about times when a big ego can get in the way.

1) When you feel entitled to success, respect, position, etc.
2) When you feel that you no longer need to practice and improve at your craft.
3) When you stop working hard, deciding you can coast.
4) When you start underestimating the competition.
5) When you no longer feel the need to research your market or test the effectiveness of your efforts.

Proverbs 16:18 tells us that pride goes before destruction. We know what ultimately happened to Skeletor, and we see the same results time and again when men and women let their egos get the best of them.

Today, make sure that you keep your pride in check. Get a level-headed perspective of yourself, your product/service, your company, etc.There’s nothing wrong with self-confidence, as long as your perspective is based on reality.

Make the best use of your ego. There’s a fine line you have to walk, but striking the right balance in this area is key to your success.

P.S. John Carlton recently wrote a similarly-themed post on his blog. He took the Texas Hold’em Poker angle. Great stuff. Take a look at “Full Tilt Boogie.”

Money-Getting Is An Art

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I just added another of my favorite classic works to the website, The Art of Money Getting (alternately known as Golden Rules for Making Money) by the one and only P.T. Barnum.

I won’t babble for too long about how much I love this little booklet. I’d prefer if you read it for yourself. But let me make a few comments.

1) It contains very good, practical advice on being “economical.” You hear complaints about the bad economy. Well, the national and global economy is made up of billions of micro (personal) economies. Do you part!

2) Barnum presents a driving emphasis on focus, perseverance and hard work. “Hard work” is a dirty phrase these days. We’ve evolved, apparently. Work smarter, not harder. Even Scrooge McDuck taught us that lesson.

Tell that to Usain Bolt. If you think hard work and determination are not key elements in his success, you’re lying to yourself.

3) He keeps earning money in its proper perspective.

I’ll be the first person to tell you that money isn’t everything. Barnum puts it more eloquently than I could.

Getting rich is not always equivalent to being successful. “There are many rich poor men, while there are many others, honest and devout men and women, who have never possessed so much money as some rich persons squander in a week, but who are nevertheless really richer and happier than any man can ever be while he is a transgressor of the higher laws of his being.”

4) This stuff is just plain old good fashioned advice from a master businessman. Simple and straightforward, but rarely implemented tactics and strategies to success in life and in money-getting endeavors.

Check it out here. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed, and I guarantee you’ll benefit from reading it. It’s a 25-page PDF. You can read it in one sitting, if you like.

WIGs and WAGs

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The other day I listened to an interview with Stephen Covey, author of “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and “The Eighth Habit.” Lots of profound material was covered, but I want to share one comment that stuck out for me.

This is another acronym, like WAGs (Wild “A” Guesses) from the previous post. In fact, we’ll tie the two concepts together in a minute.

Covey spoke about setting and orienting yourself toward accomplishing WIGs, that is Wildly Important Goals. These are the most important objectives that you want to achieve in the various areas of your life. He teaches that if you don’t set WIGs, you will spend most of your time focusing time and energy doing less important things.

Having clearly defined goals helps direct action. You only have 24 hours in a day; why waste even one minute doing something that may be urgent, but not important. Leave “firefighting” in the past.

Here’s the connection, along with an application.

You will not be successful in reaching your WIGs if you settle for making WAGs.

You need to be knowledgeable (as well as constantly learning). You need to be specific. You need to be discriminating in what you choose to do along the path to the finish line. WAGs will not do the job.

While I’m on the subject of “Rubicon” (can you tell that I’m excited?), let me paraphrase a couple of the powerful one-liners that really made powerful statements during Episode 4 from this Sunday:

“I’d rather face the consequences of my action than my inaction.”

Quite a powerful statement. Are you action oriented, or passive? Are you a cause, or are you subordinate to the effects others produce?

“There’s no special sauce. Only data and decisions”

Reminds me of something I heard Jay Abraham say (again, paraphrased): “I don’t have thoughts. I have tests and results.”

Get out there and work! Analyze your results and adapt accordingly.

By all means, learn from others, model success whenever you can. But realize that there is no “special sauce.” Just don’t tell the gurus you heard that from me.

How about one from Episode 1:

“There’s always a why. You just don’t understand it.”

As marketers, as business people, it is important to figure out the “why” behind transactions and interactions. Why do people buy from you? Why don’t they? Don’t settle for a WAG, either!

Improve Your Marketing by Playing Board Games

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Maybe I’m crazy, but it seems like you can find marketing lessons everywhere. I’m not talking about learning from the hundreds of sales messages that harass our eyes and ears daily.

You can gain marketing insight in what seems like most unlikely places…

Last night, my lovely wife and I had a great time playing Scrabble. After having the crap beaten out of me for most of the game, I had an epiphany.  Scrabble can help you be a better marketer!

I won’t take up all your time going trough all the details, but observe some of the benefits that you get from playing this classic game:

  • You’re constantly being exposed to new words. And advanced vocabulary (one that you actually put to use) is a key to the game. It will also help you with writing copy and content for your sales letters, website, articles, etc.
  • Scrabble is all about finding connections. Your brain can do a lot of exercise during competitive matches. Marketing is all about connections, too. Gotta find a way to bring your customers and your product or service together.
  • You’ll improve your ability to analyze details. A critical eye can do wonders for your advertising efforts.

The key lesson that I took away from my epiphany is that what’s on the board is more important than the letters on your rack. If you spend all your time looking at your own letters, you’ll get trounced (a word I am now quite familiar with). No matter what you have in your possession, if you can’t get it on the board, it’s worthless. Contrariwise, even if your assortment of letters is really sorry, you might still be able to create a huge word based on what’s already been played.

This is crucial with marketing as well. It is essential to understand your market. Understanding your audience is the most important part of marketing. Probably the most important aspect of running a successful business.

Short version: don’t spend all your time and effort looking at you. Look at your target, find out what they want, and figure out how to use that intimate knowledge to elevate your marketing to a higher plane.

Oh, and I’m selling my Scrabble Marketing Training Manual for $49. Give me a ring if you’re interested.

(Yes, that’s a joke!)

Could You Sell the Eiffel Tower…Twice?

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Anyone in sales, marketing or real estate can benefit from this interesting article by hypnotherapist-turned salesman Ken Ellsworth.

Take a look at the “Could You Sell The Eiffel Tower…Twice?” here. He tells the true story of scam artist Victor Lustig, who actually “sold” the Eiffel Tower to unwitting marks in the 1920’s. He then relates some lessons we can learn from an expert salesman.

There’s also a fascinating interview with Michael Senoff and Ken Ellsworth at TheBuyingCode.com. In this interview, Ken tells you how to unlock the unconscious selling strategy of your clients. He says that you should be able to reach 90% closing rate using these techniques.

Lots to learn here.

4 Laws of Leap-Frogging

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About this time last year, I finally read Robert Ringer’s magnum opus, Winning Through Intimidation.  It had been recommended by so many people that I respected, so I had to pick it up.

Tonight, I’d like to lay out a couple of quick thoughts on one of the most important lessons we take from the book: the leapfrog principle. Ringer describes it this way:

“The quickest way to the top is not by fighting your way through the pack; the quickest way is to leapfrog over the pack and simply take it upon yourself to proclaim that you’re above it.”

Let’s look at this theory, particularly in reference to people in the freelance writing or design field. Many people now considered “gurus” in their industries started out this way. Rather than “paying dues,” they simply elevated themselves to the next level.

Four major thoughts come to mind:

1)This should go without saying, but if you are leap-frogging, do not let anyone know about it.  Appearing like an amateur defeats the point.

2) You absolutely must do the preparation necessary to go to the level you’re leap-frogging to.  You have to actually be prepared to be above the pack.

3) Assume the posture of someone at that new level. This introduces another of Ringer’s ideas, the posture theory.  This theory states

“It’s not what you say or do that counts, but what your posture is when you say or do it.” 

Act like you’ve been in your position for years. Again, having the appearance of an amateur defeats the purpose. Get an attitude, as John Clausen says.

4) Don’t overdo it. Don’t simply say, “I’m the best widget maker in the universe.” Statements like that destroy credibility, and reek of immaturity. The best don’t have to go around telling everyone. They do carry themselves with the confidence of a world-class pro. You’ll have to strike a balance.

You could take this line of thinking much further, but that’s not my current intention. There are plenty of good lessons in Winning Through Intimidation. Do yourself a favor and read the book. You can thank me later.