Buck the trend, retire with money

While doing some of my regular reading today in Canadian Business magazine I came across an article talking about the health of our retirement system here is Canada and I was quite alarmed by the numbers they laid out. Fewer than 30% of us make any annual contribution to the government retirement program RRSP. 7 out of 10 of us are putting nothing away each year for our golden years. Of those who are saving the average is a paltry $2780 per year or $231 per month. Compared to what we waste on non- essentials each month this is peanuts.

I found these numbers to be extremely frightening. Though I knew we were in dire straights seeing the actual numbers in black and white print in front of my face almost took my breath away. At what point did we develop the mindset of thinking someone else is responsible to take care of us when we get old? When did it become acceptable to procrastinate for our entire lives?
It has been well documented that only about 5% of the population as a whole will ever save enough money to retire comfortably and it is pretty obvious why. The state we find ourselves in has nothing to do with our annual income, nothing to do with our formal education. It has everything to do with our mental conditioning and state of mind.

I am reminded of Parkinson's Law which was developed by English writer C. Northcote Parkinson many years ago and it explains why most people retire poor. This law says that, no matter how much money people earn, they tend to spend the entire amount and a little bit more. Their expenses rise in lockstep with their earnings. But somehow, they seem to need every single penny to maintain their current lifestyles. No matter how much they make, there never seems to be enough. It is a downward spiral caused by poor mental programing.

The only way to escape this spiral is to make a choice, make a decision to become successful and buck the social trend. I am amazed at how someone working minimum wage can never find money to put aside for retirement but can always scrape together money for beer, cigarettes or pizza. There seems to be a strong desire for us to keep up with the Jones and yet the Jones are ending up broke in the end so why try and be like them?

Want a better approach you can implement easily? If you do nothing else but take 50% of any raise you receive and save that each month I guarantee you will retire a millionaire. Albert Einstein said the most powerful force in the world is that of compound interest. Get it working for you and a million dollars is within your grasp. All you are doing is saving half of any “New Money”, nothing else is changing. We all get raises along the way, the question becomes is it raising you up or keeping you down?

The only thing standing between you and a comfortable retirement is yourself and your poor mental programming. Still want to be like the Jones? What is it going to cost you in the end? Your dignity? Your self respect? Perhaps your marriage? Finance worries is the single biggest cause of divorce in our society. Are you one of the 70% who is not saving anything? Perhaps it is time to change your thought patterns because remember. If you always do what you have always done the results you achieve will remain consistent. Change your thoughts, change your approach and you can buck the trend and be in the small percentile who can actually enjoy retirement.

Market conditions drive strong June housing sales

VANCOUVER, B.C. – July 3, 2009 –

The combination of low interest rates and more affordable pricing helped propel Greater Vancouver home sale numbers to the second all-time highest total for the month of June. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that sales of detached, attached and apartment properties increased 75.6 per cent in June 2009 to 4,259, from the 2,425 sales recorded in June 2008. The figure is just short of the record-breaking 4,333 sales which occurred in June 2005.

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties declined 17.9 per cent to 5,372 in June 2009 compared to June 2008, when 6,546 new units were listed. However, new listings increased 13.5 per cent from May to June of this year. Total active listings in Greater Vancouver currently sit at 13,252, down 27 per cent from June 2008 and 2.9 per cent below the active listings count at the end of May 2009.

“Price reductions and low interest rates have created an improvement in affordability, which is causing the number of sales to rise to levels comparable to 2003 to 2007,” Scott Russell, REBGV president said.

“Many people who were reluctant to purchase a home last fall and earlier this year are returning to the market because they see conditions that appeal to their personal and financial needs,” Russell said. “However, the current marketplace is such that buyers are more inclined to walk if they don’t like the terms of an offer.”

Residential benchmark prices, as calculated by the MLSLink® Housing Price Index, declined 8.2 percent to $518,855 in June 2009 compared to June 2008.

The number of sales of detached properties increased 81.6 per cent to 1,667 from the 918 detached sales recorded during the same period in 2008. The benchmark price for detached properties declined 8.4 per cent to $701,384 in June 2009 compared to June 2008.
The number of sales of apartment properties in June 2009 increased 69.3 per cent to 1,790, compared to 1,057 sales in June 2008. The benchmark price of an apartment property declined 8.2 per cent from June 2008 to $356,880.

The number of attached property sales in June 2009 increased 78.2 per cent to 802, compared with the 450 sales in June 2008. The benchmark price of an attached unit declined 7.3 per cent between June 2009 and 2008 to $441,620. For more information on real estate, statistics, and buying or selling a home, visit http://www.rebgv.org

Crafting your marketing message

In sales and marketing one of the most important elements is the message you put forth to your perspective clients. The key component often over looked by many professionals when it comes to message is the only thing that matters is your prospects perception of your message. You must make your prospect crystal clear about the benefits of using your product or service or you will never make a sale.

Let me give you a very simple example using the sentence

“I didn't know he stole the car.”

The meaning of this sentence can change dramatically with emphasis being placed on any one of the words, let me explain.

Supposed I put an emphasis on the first word and say “I didn't know he stole the car” which can be taken to mean my friend may have known but I did not know personally.

Or I could put emphasis on the word know and say “I didn't know he stole the car” which can be taken to mean perhaps I assumed he stole it; however, I did not know for certain.

I could also put emphasis on the word car and say “ I didn't know he stole the car” which can be taken to mean I knew the man was a thief I was just not aware he had stolen a car.

This example can be powerful if you really learn the lesson detailed in it. At no point did I change the words I was speaking, all I did was change how I emphasized the words. This change in emphasis managed to change the meaning of the entire sentence in each case.

So I ask you the question, how clear is your marketing message? Are your prospects lining up to buy from you or are they giving you a confused or indifferent look? Talk to a few trusted friends and ask for them to critique what you are saying. Is your message being received the way you would like it to be? A few minor tweaks can dramatically change your results.

Remember all that matters is the perception of your client, how they hear it is what matters. Show them a well defined, easy to understand benefit and they will buy. Confuse your client and they will do nothing.

Don't lose money

Don't Lose Money!
By: Brian Tracy

Throughout the history of American enterprise, you've heard the words, "work hard and save your money." Work hard and save your money. It is the oldest rule for success in America. It's so important, as a matter of fact, that W. Clement Stone once said, "if you cannot save money, then the seeds of greatness are not in you."

Saving Is a Discipline
Why is it that saving money is so important? Because saving money is a discipline and any discipline affects all other disciplines in your life. If you do not have the discipline to refrain from spending all the money that you earn, then you are not qualified to become wealthy and if you do become wealthy, you'll not be capable of holding on to it.

The Law of Attraction
A principle with regard to saving your money is the law of attraction. The law of attraction is activated by saved money. Even one dollar saved will start to attract more money. Here's what I suggest that you do. If you're really serious about your future, go down and open a savings account. Put as much money as you can into it, even if it's only ten dollars. And then begin to collect little bits of money, and every week go down and put something into that account.

Attract More Money Into Your Life
You will find that the more you put in that account, the more you will attract from sources that you cannot now predict. But if you do not begin the savings process, if you don't begin putting something away towards your financial independence, then nothing will happen to you. The law of attraction just simply won't work.

Invest Your Money Conservatively
Once you begin to accumulate money, here's another rule. Invest the money conservatively. Marvin Davis, self-made billionaire, was asked by Forbes Magazine, "How do you account for your financial success?" And he said, "Well, I have two rules for financial investing." He said, "Rule number one is, don't lose money." He said, whenever I'm tempted, whenever I see an opportunity to invest where there's a possibility I could lose it all, I just simply refrain from putting the money in. Rule number two is, whenever I get tempted, I refer back to rule number one. Don't lose money.

Get Rich Slowly
George Classon says, in The Richest Man In Babylon, that the key is to accumulate your funds and then invest them very conservatively. One of the characteristics of self-made millionaires, one of the characteristics of old money in America is that it's very cautiously, conservatively and prudently invested.Don't try to get rich quickly. Concentrate rather on getting rich slowly. If all you do is save ten percent of your earnings, put it away, and let it accumulate at compound interest, that alone will make you wealthy.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to apply these lessons to your financial life:First, open a separate savings and investing account today. From this day forward, put every single dollar you can spare into this account and resolve to never touch it or spend it for any reason.

Second, whenever you consider any investment of your savings, remember the rule, "Don't lose money!" It is better to keep the money working at a low rate of interest than to take the chance of losing it. Be careful. A fool and his money are soon parted.

The 80/20 rule

A good portion of our everyday life is based on the 80/20 principle (or 80/20 rule) which is also known as the Pareto Principle. Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto first formulated this theory in 1897. Pareto was studying incomes and money and discovered that a small portion of the population had a large portion of the money. Pareto referred to this phenomena as the “unequal distribution of wealth”, and developed several mathematical formulas to quantify his this maldistribution.

The work of Pareto was later taken and expanded on by an industrial engineer by the name of Joseph Moses Juran. Juran took the work Pareto had done and made it into a more universal law with his work on what Juran called "vital few and the trivial many". Juran had worked much of his career as a quality control engineer and he observed that often 80% of a problem is caused by 20% of the causes. It was Juran who is actually credited with coining the term “The Pareto Principle”. In his paper The Non-Pareto Principle Juran explains it this way.

“It was during the late 1940s, when I was preparing the manuscript for Quality Control Handbook, First Edition, that I was faced squarely with the need for giving a short name to the universal. In the resulting write-up2 under the heading "Maldistribution of Quality Losses," I listed numerous instances of such maldistribution as a basis for generalization. I also noted that Pareto had found wealth to be maldistributed. In addition, I showed examples of the now familiar cumulative curves, one for maldistribution of wealth and the other for maldistribution of quality losses. The caption under these curves reads "Pareto's principle of unequal distribution applied to distribution of wealth and to distribution of quality losses."”

Thanks to the diligent work of Duran we can now see how the 80/20 rule can be applied to any area of our lives or our work. As he points out “the trivial many” are the areas we do not need to spend our time or energy on as they are just not all that important to our end result.

The first time I can remember consciously using the 80/20 rule to my advantage was in my grade 10 math class. That year I had 2 teachers who would alternate months in which they taught, on of which I liked, one of which I did not. At this stage of math class the equations were beginning to get quite complex and multi step. I discovered however that with creative thinking I was able to skip most of the steps in the process and still come up with the correct answer. In essence I was doing 20% of the work but still coming up with the desired effect. One of my teachers saw my gift and encouraged me to continue using it to my advantage. It was he who coined the term for me “The Chuck Method”. The second teacher however saw things in an entirely different light. He decided that even though my answers were correct he wanted to grade on compliance to the system and would give me 20% on the tests because he could not come up with how I got to my answers.

I use this story because I believe it really illustrates why so few people actually put the 80/20 rule into practice. We live in a society that places emphasis on compliance more than creative thinking. When we try to develop something new it is often shot down as disobedient. I believe that each one of us has the power to challenge this system. This is one of the major reasons why the 80/20 rule is so powerful is, 80% of the population is willing to accept things as they come and don’t believe that they deserve anything better. It is the top 20% who will not accept this and they increase the gap between the haves and the have nots. It has been said that one of the biggest problems people face is not that they aim to high and fail; it is that they aim to low and succeed.

One great example of putting the 80/20 rule to a very positive use is the Windows operating system we are all familiar with. The Windows desktop is a fantastic example of the rule in action. On any given computer there are hundreds of programs installed but most are rarely used. On our desktop we have a small number of programs we use on a regular basis. It is much more convenient to have things like our web browser in an easily accessible place, but we don’t need every program there.

There are plenty of examples in our everyday world of the 80/20 rule being used, often times by each one of us. The real power of the rule however comes into play when you begin to make a conscious effort with each decision you make during the day. As soon as you become deeply and innately aware of the power the 80/20 rule has over your life the sooner you can begin to unleash to power it contains.

The secret to success is knowing what are your 20% activities which are producing the 80% of your results. Doing more of the productive activities in your life will allow you to earn more in less time and have more free time to do the things you enjoy.

The Network Insider: Fight or Flight - Battling it out in the travel industry

Below is the most recent email newsletter from a local company called Atomica Creative. http://www.atomicacreative.com/ In this edition Tatsuya Nakagawa of Atomica is interviewing a good friend of mine Ryan Phillips so I thought I would pass along the article in its entirety.

Enjoy:

Summer is travel season, so it makes sense for us to explore innovation in the travel industry. Hard hit by a variety of technological inventions that have transformed the way people book travel and whether they travel at all; an economy that discourages any type of expenditure and the miscellaneous impact of oil prices, terrorism and accidents, this is an industry that needs to innovate to survive.

Our guest this month, Ryan Phillips of Flight Centre Business Travel, brings not only his insights about the travel industry, but also some interesting observations about how marketing and sales have changed... and stayed the same - plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Even in this low touch era where deals are as likely to close over the web as they are in person, effective sales people understand that personal contact can make all the difference in whether the deal gets signed or not. The rise of social media sites have been a boon to those companies that recognize the consumer need for personal contact and travel industry companies have been some of the first to understand their value. JetBlue and Southwest Airlines have both harnessed the power of social networking on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites and brought a new level of transparency to the industry.

They have been some of the leaders in using social media and find new ways of using these technological innovations to increase customer satisfaction every day. As the hassle factor and the economy together strive to make leaving home an unpleasant experience, those who truly understand the nature of innovation stay one step ahead.

Our guest Ryan Phillips, when asked to name an innovative company, chose Nine Inch Nails and their strategic use of free distribution and selected copyrights. Of course, my immediate thought was, "wow what a leap from travel to music!"" But in reality, it's often innovations in a field far removed from the one in which an individual works that drives creativity. The Post-it Note, famously it is said was inspired when the inventor was singing in the choir. Maybe it's something about music. Whether or not music has anything to do with it, we all know that we live in an era when consumers' access to information is unparalleled, so the old rules of first mover advantage are falling by the wayside. In a matter of moments any concept, promotion, advertisement or idea can be copied and disseminated to the target audience. Which make the ongoing relationship that much more important. Relationship is key in the low touch century. Ryan understands that and shares his ideas on how his company strives to develop strong ones with their customers.

Interview with Ryan Phillips
:
What is your role at Flight Centre?

Business Development Manager with Flight Centre Business Travel (FCBT) which specializes in corporate executive and employee travel. Essentially I work with companies to identify ways that FCBT Travel Consultants can help streamline processes while offering a personalized service, 24 hours a day. I frequently talk to my clients and the most common feedback regarding their experience with FCBT is how our travel consultants are very responsive, friendly and knowledgeable. I would love to take all the credit for that, but I really do owe it to the team I work with.

In your opinion what are the key trends affecting the travel industry?

The current economic climate is definitely affecting the travel industry both in terms of personal and business travel. On the leisure side, people are trying to get the most value for their travel dollar in terms of inclusions and options. In terms of corporate travel, a large majority of companies have much stricter travel policies, which is another reason we are seeing an increase in business. We have an excellent process in place which allows for simple, yet effective, ways of tracking company travel policies.

What is the greatest marketing or sales advice you've ever received?

As an extremely ambitious new young sales representative very early in my career, I can remember meeting with a client to do a sales pitch. After the pitch the client looked at me and told that he was interested and that I should call him back in two weeks. Feeling pretty proud of myself I sat back and waited and after two weeks made the call and asked him if he would like to go ahead. His response was "sorry we went with the competition." My manager asked me why they decided that way and I couldn't answer him so he asked me to call the client back and ask why. With a damaged ego I picked up the telephone and called the client and explained to him that I was new to sales and I wanted to learn what I could have done differently. The client explained to me that the competition had come in to talk to him on several occasions during the 2 week period and every time he met that person it made more sense to work with him. Approximately one year later that same client was looking to replace another piece of office equipment and I was given the opportunity to present a proposal. Recalling the conversation we had one year earlier, I followed all his rules and ended up winning him as a long standing client who still currently works with my previous employer and stays in touch with me.

If you could go back in time and change something, what would it be?

I have always been a true believer that all that has happened in my past has been a big contributing factor to my success today. Although we never want to forget our past, we never want to live in it. Live in the present with an eye on the future. The short answer to your question is nothing.

What is an example of an innovative company that people have never heard of?

This may seem like a strange answer, but Nine Inch Nails (NIN), yes the music group! Many people know of them but not many know them as an innovative company. Their marketing tactics have been a true inspiration for me in thinking outside the box. They are almost single handedly changing the music industry. Trent Reznor the mastermind and front man of NIN is paving the way for new and old bands to connect with fans.

Taking tactics like this and applying it to a corporate business environment would allow us to connect with clients on a whole new level. Who in their right mind would think that by giving away an album for free would end up leading to it being the bestselling album on Amazon in 2008 and generate $750,000usd in three days? http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/01/free-nine-inch-nails-albums-top-2008-amazon-mp3-sales-charts.ars

List a few of your favourite business sites.

Stockhouse Is a great took for looking at market trends and learning about new and upcoming business. http://www.stockhouse.com/index.aspx

CNW Group is a good resource to find out what is happening in the Canadian business market. http://www.newswire.ca/en/

The Flight Centre blog always provides up to date travel information and advice. http://www.flightcentre.ca/blog/

iGoogle is an amazing tool which allows you to create your very own customized page with 100's of different widget options. It's the first place I start every morning! http://www.igoogle.com

Linked in has always been a great place to keep a database of contacts I have connected with along the way.http://www.linkedin.com/in/ryphillips

BIO: Ryan Phillips joined Flight Centre Business Travel as a Business Development Manager after more than 10 years of working in Business Development with a range of companies from those in its infant stages to Fortune 500. His extensive experience in all ranges of companies allows him to appreciate the importance of creating long lasting relationships while developing effective strategies for increasing profitability.

Ryan attributes his success as a Business Development Manager with Flight Centre to his passion for understanding that each of his client's travel needs are different. As a frequent business and vacation traveler himself, Ryan strives to ensure that his clients are provided with the unbeatable service of Flight Centre's Corporate Travel Consultants. Ryan is an avid supporter of the community and the people around him. Outside of work he enjoys volunteering for a local children's charity, as well as being involved in regional and community projects.

Ryan Phillips
610 Robson St.
Vancouver BC
604-374-2200

Sincerely,

Tatsuya Nakagawa
Atomica Creative
Strategic Product Marketing

Reticular Activation System

Have you ever noticed that if you buy a new car you immediately begin to see the same make and model of car all over the place? It is not that no one owned the car before you, they were always prevalent. What has changed is that now the car is part of your focus on a daily basis. It is something you own that is new, you are passionate about your new car, and you focus on it; consequently, you become aware of all the people in your city with similar taste in automobiles.

This takes place due to what is known as “Reticular Activation System” or RAS. In very simple terms our RAS functions kind of like a filter for us to the world around us. If you were to look around in the room you are currently in, there are thousands if not millions of things you could look at. Where I sit right now writing this I can see various office supplies, books, batteries, a water bottle to name a few things. The RAS helps our mind focus on what it deems to be the important parts of your current environment.

Take the water bottle that is sitting beside me, I may not notice it is empty until I begin to feel thirsty. When my body becomes thirsty my RAS goes into action to bring my attention to the items, which can remedy my situation. If I were to begin to feel cold my RAS would bring my attention this items such as the room’s thermostat.

The most important thing to remember about your RAS is it is always in motion. Whether you are conscious of it or not you are attracting people and activities into your life. The trick to it is to create a focus in your mind of things you would like to attract into your life. Your RAS can be used to help you or hinder you. It work whether you are consciously aware of it or not. However; once you become aware of it, you can channel it and use it with laser precision to get almost anything you want in your life as long as you crystalize your focus to attract the right things into your life.

The RAS is what makes the Law of Attraction work. I am sure you have heard of this law as it has been around for thousands of years. It really is one of the universal laws of our world. It can be traced as far back as the bible “For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” Proverbs 23:7. The Law of Attraction has recently been imortalized in the book and movie “The Secret”. The Secret has done a great job of getting people to focus on the things they want in life and beleiving they can have what they truly want.

The Secret however is not always a good thing. There is a phenomenon which psychologist call a “self fulfilling prophecy.” The American sociologist William Isaac Thomas defined the term “self fulfilling prophecy” when he said “If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.” What happens is a fear is created in the mind and it becomes the focus of a person. Since it becomes the focus, all actions taken by a person are complimentary to that focus.
What ends up happening is people focus so much on bad things happening because of decisions, they fear to make decisions. In not making decisions they become creatures of circumstance and end up being the brunt of bad events. A self-fulfilling prophecy is another example of the Law of Attraction in action. Our RAS kicks into action with us focusing on what we fear to happen and thus further misfortune finds us.

This can be put another way, we get what we think about most of the time. This is why it becomes very important to think about positive things most of the time. One of the items I love to talk about the power of positive thinking and how affirmations can have a profound effect on your life. So often what we think about is what we get, but I wanted to use a real life example of a trap many of us fall into.

Have you ever founder yourself saying to a friend or loved one “don’t let me forget this”? It is a very common expression most of us have used. If you take a look at this though, what our minds focus on is the verb, in this case “forget”. In this example we are conditioning our brain to focus on forgetting.

A simple switch of words in this expression, “help me remember this” is all it takes to focus on the positive. The verb in this expression is “remember” and this is what your mind is focusing on. I use this as a very simple example of how we can think we are focusing on the positive but allowing ourselves to slip back to the negative on a regular basis.

How much time do you waste during the day going back to pick up something you forgot? How much more productive could you be if you always knew where everything was? The simple process of remembering where you put things can greatly increase your productivity and your results. All it takes to achieve this is a slight change in your focus.

When it comes down to it, we are inundated in negative expressions on a daily basis. It does take a conscious effort to break the cycle and focus on positive things all the time; though, it is an effort that is well worth it. Think about it, if you could have anything you wanted in life and all you had to do was focus on it, would it be worth your time? I do believe it would be. I am not saying it is easy, but I am saying you will love the results. Many of the key lessons in life are very simple to implement, the problem however is they are just as simple to not do.

One of the most proliferate forms of negativity is our television. Turn on any news network or broadcast and you will hear about all sorts of terrible things happening locally and globally. We live in a society where bad news is what sells. What we hear about are scandals, wars, the greedy government and the like. It is very rare we hear heartwarming stories that will motivate us. Knowing this, one of the simplest ways to escape negativity in your life is to simply avoid watching, listening to or reading the news. Just this act alone will drastically cut the amount of negativity you are exposed to on a regular basis.

Simply put your RAS is always in motion, you just need to make a conscious choice as to what it is focusing on at all times. Fill your mind with positive ideas and thoughts of the things, emotions and people you most desire and your life will be much more fulfilling and meaningful. Focus on the end result you hope to achieve and you are one step closer to its ultimate achievement.

The Three Secrets to Winning on Twitter by Bonnie

1. Listen

Twitter is a giant conversation and you get to listen in on any part of it. Several million people are tweeting (talking) day and night, 24 hours a day and you have the opportunity to listen in.
Listen to what people are saying (it’s called trending on twitter), what people are excited about, what’s in the news. Find out what’s important to your readers. Incorporate popular topics in your writing, especially blogs and on-line articles.

Examples of a recent Twitter Session:

@AnneOnline was talking about taking her dog for a walk Took Ivy dog with me. A chicken poked its head out and Ivy tried to get in, but all is well. Chickens are safe for another day. =)

@billwelker quoted Lou Gerig The ballplayer who loses his head, who can’t keep his cool, is worse than no ballplayer at all. -Lou Gehrig

@alferreti mentioned an online article Making Twitter #FollowFriday Effective http://tinyurl.com/lemel6

@properitygal recommended someone she follows #followfriday @terrywygal cause he knows his itsha in Real Estate investing and puts on great seminars-tell him to put me on his stage

Using the search capability of Twitter, you can research any topic in less time and with more relevant results than with any other online tool.

2. Connect

You can connect with any of the tens of millions people who use twitter everyday. When you follow them, you’re able to see their tweets, what they’re saying.
It’s not necessary for people you’re following to give permission. In that respect, it’s like being on stage and your relationship with your audience. For example, you can follow experts in your field or celebrities like Oprah Winfrey.
Use Twitters search capability to find someone you’d like to follow. You’re able to see who other people follow, so a tip to build a community quickly is to follow all the folks a person of influence does.

3. Communicate

Now you’ve built a community, it’s time for you to dive into the conversation. The same rules that apply at a business networking event apply to Twitter. Rule one is DON’T SPAM. Any form of “Buy my product” is spam.
Safe Twitter message types for the beginner are to
· retweet another user. Copy what they’ve said, giving them credit.
· Reply to what someone has said .. that’s the conversation part. Don’t be shy.
· Tweet your favorite quotes
· Let folks know what you’re reading .. online articles or blogs with a line
Be a giver. Help others by providing good content, tips and encouragement. In the case of Twitter, the good guys do finish first.

Twitter is one of the fastest growing internet applications. It’s so easy to use, anyone can establish an account and start to tweet. Building a community and effective communication requires some concentration, but is easily attainable for those who Listen, Connect and Communicate.

Getting a message to Garcia

A Message to Garcia
Elbert Hubbard

IN ALL THIS CUBAN BUSINESS there is one man stands out on the horizon of my
memory like Mars at perihelion. When war broke out between Spain and the United
States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of the Insurgents.
Garcia was somewhere in the mountain fastnesses of Cuba -- no one knew where. No
mail or telegraph could reach him. The President must secure his co-operation, and
quickly.

What to do!
Someone said to the President, “There is a fellow by the name of Rowan who will find
Garcia for you, if anybody can.”
Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How “the fellow by
name of Rowan” took the letter, sealed it up in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his
heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared
into the jungle, and in three weeks came out on the other side of the Island, having
traversed a hostile country on foot, and having delivered his letter to Garcia -- are things I
have no special desire now to tell in detail.

The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia;
Rowan took the letter and did not ask, “Where is he at?” By the Eternal! there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this or that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies: do the thing – “Carry a message to Garcia.”

General Garcia is dead now, but there are other Garcias.

No man who has endeavored to carry out an enterprise where many hands are needed, but
has been well-nigh appalled at times by the imbecility of the average man—the inability
or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it. Slipshod assistance, foolish
inattention, dowdy indifference, and half-hearted work seem the rule; and no man
succeeds, unless by hook or crook or threat he forces or bribes other men to assist him; or
mayhap, God in His goodness performs a miracle, and sends him an Angel of Light for
an assistant.

You, reader, put this matter to a test: You are sitting now in your office—six clerks are
within call. Summon any one and make this request: “Please look in the encyclopedia and
make a brief memorandum for me concerning the life of Correggio.” Will the clerk quietly say, “Yes, sir,” and go do the task? On your life, he will not. He will look at you out of a fishy eye, and ask one or more of the following questions:

Who was he?
Which encyclopedia?
Where is the encyclopedia?
Was I hired for that?
Don't you mean Bismarck?
What's the matter with Charlie doing it?
Is he dead?
Is there any hurry?
Shan't I bring you the book and let you look it up yourself?
What do you want to know for?

And I will lay you ten to one that after you have answered the questions, and explained
how to find the information, and why you want it, the clerk will go off and get one of the
other clerks to help him find Garcia—and then come back and tell you there is no such
man. Of course, I may lose my bet, but according to the Law of Average I will not.

Now, if you are wise, you will not bother to explain to your “assistant” that Correggio is
indexed under the C's, not in the K's, but you will smile very sweetly and say, “Never
mind,” and go look it up yourself. And this incapacity for independent action, this moral
stupidity, this infirmity of the will, this unwillingness to cheerfully catch hold and lift—
these are the things that put pure Socialism so far into the future. If men will not act for
themselves, what will they do when the benefit of their effort is for all?

A first mate with knotted club seems necessary; and the dread of getting “the bounce”
Saturday night holds many a worker to his place. Advertise for a stenographer, and nine
out of ten who apply can neither spell nor punctuate -- and do not think it necessary to.
Can such a one write a letter to Garcia?

“You see that bookkeeper,” said the foreman to me in a large factory. “Yes, what about him?”
“Well, he's a fine accountant, but if I'd send him uptown on an errand, he might accomplish the errand all right, and on the other hand, might stop at four saloons on the way, and when he got to Main Street would forget what he had been sent for.” Can such a man be entrusted to carry a message to Garcia?

We have recently been hearing much maudlin sympathy expressed for the “down-trodden
denizens of the sweatshop” and the “homeless wanderer searching for honest employment,” and with it all often go many hard words for the men in power. Nothing is said about the employer who grows old before his time in a vain attempt to get frowsy ne'er-do-wells to do intelligent work; and his long, patient striving after “help” that does nothing but loaf when his back is turned. In every store and factory there is a constant weeding-out process going on. The employer is constantly sending away “help” that have shown their incapacity to further the interests of the business, and others are being taken on. No matter how good times are, this sorting continues: only, if times are hard and work is scarce, this sorting is done finer—but out and forever out the incompetent and unworthy go. It is the survival of the fittest. Self-interest prompts every employer to keep the best—those who can carry a message to Garcia.

I know one man of really brilliant parts who has not the ability to manage a business of
his own, and yet who is absolutely worthless to anyone else, because he carries with him
constantly the insane suspicion that his employer is oppressing, or intending to oppress
him. He can not give orders, and he will not receive them. Should a message be given
him to take to Garcia, his answer would probably be, “Take it yourself!”

Tonight this man walks the streets looking for work, the wind whistling through his
threadbare coat. No one who knows him dare employ him, for he is a regular firebrand of
discontent. He is impervious to reason, and the only thing that can impress him is the toe
of a thick-soled Number Nine boot.

Of course, I know that one so morally deformed is no less to be pitied than a physical
cripple; but in our pitying let us drop a tear, too, for the men who are striving to carry on
a great enterprise, whose working hours are not limited by the whistle, and whose hair is
fast turning white through the struggle to hold the line in dowdy indifference, slipshod
imbecility, and the heartless ingratitude which, but for their enterprise, would be both
hungry and homeless.

Have I put the matter too strongly? Possibly I have; but when all the world has gone aslumming
I wish to speak a word of sympathy for the man who succeeds—the man who,
against great odds, has directed the efforts of others, and having succeeded, finds there's
nothing in it nothing but bare board and clothes. I have carried a dinner-pail and worked
for a day's wages, and I have also been an employer of labor, and I know there is
something to be said on both sides. There is no excellence, per se, in poverty; rags are no
recommendation; and all employers are not rapacious and high-handed, any more than all
poor men are virtuous.

My heart goes out to the man who does his work when the boss is away, as well as when
he is at home. And the man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly takes the missive,
without asking any idiotic questions, and with no lurking intention of chucking it into the
nearest sewer, or of doing aught else but deliver it, never gets “laid off,” nor has to go on
a strike for higher wages. Civilization is one long, anxious search for just such
individuals. Anything such a man asks will be granted. He is wanted in every city, town
and village—in every office, shop, store and factory.

The world cries out for such: he is
needed and needed badly—the man who can “Carry a Message to Garcia

The lawn mower business plan

Recently we purchased a new home with a nice big yard for us to enjoy. As we have been spending our free time building things like gardens and landscaping it to fit within the picture in our minds the grass continued to grow and I was forced to go shopping for a lawn mower. I decided it would be best to go with a manual mower powered by nothing but elbow grease and a desire to be a little more environmentally conscious.

In getting out in the yard this evening and fighting my way through the grass and weeds which had been left too long I was once again reminded of the cathartic experience simple manual labour can offer. Alone in the city with the smell of clean air and fresh cut grass I was once again wrapped up solitude which allowed me to focused my thoughts. The simple task of keeping the body occupied and yet having the freedom to lose myself in thought has become a very helpful tool for me.

I find it is easy to get wrapped up in the chaotic life of living in a major city, operating a business by day and maintaining a social life by night. We often forget to take time to look inwards and reflect on what is important and establish what to focus on moving forward.
Feelings and emotions, are the access point to your inner powers of mind. Solitude is one of the most powerful activity in which one can engage. So many epiphanies have been created in times of solitude and thought (some may call it meditating). I find I begin to experience a flow of energy coming into my mind and body as well as a tremendous sense of well-being. Answer to lingering questions seem to appear, new goals are crystallized and old irrelevant goals seem to drift away.

I read recently a study of happiness and a large group of people were asked what would make them happier in life. A very large portion of those interviewed felt earning more money (20-50% increase in annual income) would dramatically increase happiness levels. However, as the subject's lives were followed there was no correlation between increased happiness and increased income.

What I found truly amazing about this study was when the group of people were asked what impact a 10 minute walk every evening in a park would do for happiness levels virtually none of them felt the nightly nature walk would have any effect on happiness levels. In contrast, of those who took a nightly walk almost all showed a dramatic increase in overall happiness. The study showed that as little as 10 minutes each day alone in nature with a minimal amount of physical activity was the best way to increase happiness and the feeling of fulfillment in life. It has once again been proven, money can not by itself buy happiness.

In looking back at my decision to purchase the manual mower, perhaps it is not just the environment who is benefiting. A simple act of green can have a huge impact on happiness and achievement levels in life. The time spent outside pushing the mower can be perhaps the most important business activity I participate in all week.

Cheers,

Chuck

Online auction to help the kids

Hello everyone,

I wanted to share with you a charity auction being put on by Clearly Contacts www.clearlycontacts.ca to help support the Easter Seals 24 Hour Relay. There are many great items up for bids including a relaxing massage package from HOBN's own Avery Yackel.
There is also a terrific prize pack from the Vancouver Whitecaps which is perfect for networkers.

The prize includes:

1) four grandstand tickets in the Platinum section for the Vancouver Whitecaps game against the Minnesota Thunder for Thursday, July 9 2009

2) four VIP passes which will entitle the holders to enter into a restricted area, the HUB Executive Club, where there will be complementary appetizers and beverages along with four BMO VIP passes entitling the holders to enter into a restricted area on the field where there will be appetizers and discounted beverages; and. VIP Parking Pass at Swanguard Stadium. This is worth $325!!

There are many other prizes up for grabs as well. To take a look at the items up for bid and offer your support please visit http://clearlycrusaders.weebly.com/silent-auction.html I know the kids will appreciate your support.

Cheers,

Chuck

Solutions- Henry Ford

Don’t find fault, find a remedy. --Henry Ford

5 reasons to network in a tough economy

5 Reasons to Network in a Tough Economy by Thom Singer

It seems in boom-boom times many professionals forget that they are not alone in their outstanding success. They bask in the glow of the big deals and high income and start believing that they are the central cause for their own glory.Welcome to the recession.Now people who ignored others and felt invincible are feeling the pinch of hard times. Alas, they are frantically going back to the basics of business, and one of those basics is realizing that nobody succeeds in a vacuum. Seems networking is a hot topic.

Here are 5 reasons that your network is important in a tough economy:

1. All opportunities come from people. Those who were "too busy" to go to lunch or invest time in cultivating meaningful relationships are hungry to network. In a tough economy any and all referral sources become important to survival. If you want more sales, the people you know can be the conduit to discovering new clients.

2. Your network is your safety net. If you get caught in a lay-off it is the people in your network who can help you find your next employer or lead you to consulting gigs. Additionally those with whom you have already developed mutually beneficial relationships are the ones who will be available for moral support if and when you need it. If you have no network, these tough times can seem very lonely.

3. When marketing budgets are cut, word-of-mouth is your only hope. If you cannot afford marketing, PR and advertising, you need to get out and spread the word yourself. But you can only go so far, thus having strong contacts who understand the value you bring can multiply your visibility by telling others about you and your products / services.

4. We learn from others. Being around other intelligent and creative people can motivate and inspire you to succeed. If you have a network of contacts with whom you share information, you cultivate an environment of learning. When you learn you grow. When you are stagnate you die.

5. If you are not networking, remember - your competitors ARE networking! Out of sight is out of mind. If the success of your business in this economy is important to you then you will find a way to make it to the breakfasts, luncheons and "after hours" events. Yes, it is time consuming, but with more people out seeking to make connections, you can rest assured that your competition is trying to meet your customers. If you stay home you are giving them a free pass to begin to build relationships that can and will lead them to future business.

Why the Cheap Will Never Get Rich

Why the Cheap Will Never Get Rich
by Robert Kiyosaki


The other day a friend of mine approached me excitedly, saying, "I found the house of my dreams. It's in foreclosure and the bank will sell it to me for a great price."
"How good is the price?" I asked.
"Just before the real estate market crashed, the seller was asking $780,000 for the property. Today, I can buy it from the bank for $215,000. What do you think?" she asked.
"How would I know?" I replied. "All you've given me is the price."
"Yes!" she squealed. "Now my husband and I can afford it."
"Only cheap people buy on price," I replied. "Just because something is cheap doesn't mean it's worth the cost."

I then explained to her one of my most basic money principles: I buy value. I will pay more for value. If I don't like the price, I simply pass. If the seller wants to sell, he will come back with a better price. I let him tell me what he will accept. I know some people love to haggle; personally, I don't. If a person wants to sell, they will sell. If I feel what I am buying is of value, I'll pay the price. Value rather than price has made me rich.

Against my advice, my friend sought financing for her "dream" home.
Fortunately, the bank turned her down. The house was on a busy street in a deteriorating neighborhood. The high school four blocks away was one of the most dangerous schools in the city. Her son and daughter would either have to go to private school or take karate lessons. She is now looking for a cheaper house to buy and has asked her father, who is retired, for help with the down payment. If her past is a crystal ball to her future, she will likely always be cheap and poor, even though she is a good, kind, educated, hard-working person.

My Point of View
What follows are some thoughts on why my friend will probably never get ahead financially -- especially in this market.
1. She and her husband have college degrees but zero financial education. Even worse, neither plans to attend any investment classes. Choosing to remain financially uneducated has caused them to miss out on the greatest bull and bear markets in history. As my rich dad often said, "What you don't know keeps you poor."
2. She is too emotional. In the world of money and investing, you must learn to control your emotions. When you think about it, three of our biggest financial decisions in life are made at times of peak emotional excitement: deciding to get married, buying a home, and having kids.
My dad often said, "High emotions, low intelligence." To be rich, you need to see the good and the bad, the short- and long-term consequences of your decisions. Obviously, this is easier said than done, but it's key to building wealth.
3. She doesn't know the difference between advice from rich people and advice from sales people. Most people get their financial advice from the latter -- people who profit even if you lose. One reason why financial education is so important is because it helps you know the difference between good and bad advice.

As the current crisis demonstrates, our schools teach very little about money management. Millions of people are living in fear because they followed conventional wisdom: Go to school, get a job, work hard, save money, buy a house, get out of debt, and invest for the long term in a well-diversified portfolio of mutual funds. Many people who followed this financial prescription are not sleeping at night. They need a new plan. Had they sought out a little financial education, they might not be entangled in this mess.

A Thank You to Jon Stewart
Speaking of finance experts, I personally want to thank Jon Stewart of 'The Daily Show' for taking on Jim Cramer and CNBC. Jon Stewart did an incredible job of representing the millions of people all over the world who have lost their savings in the market. He was right in saying he thought it "disingenuous" to advise people to invest for the long term through their retirement plans while knowing full well that traders could steal Americans' retirement money by trading in and out of the market. Most traders like Cramer realize that investing in mutual funds for the long term is financial suicide. Cramer should have spoken up, but we all know why CNBC won't let him tell the truth. If he did, the station's advertisers would leave.
While I applaud Cramer for going on 'The Daily Show' and facing the music, I'm afraid he was marginalized by Stewart -- certainly outgunned -- and he has lost his credibility. He may pay an even bigger price if the SEC decides to dig deeper.

Jim Cramer is a very smart man. I watch his show. I just do not follow his advice.
In closing, I will say what I have said for years: We need financial education in our schools. Without it, we cannot tell the good advice from the bad.

Guiness World Record Event

This morning At the Yaletown chapter of High Output Business network where I am a member ,it was my pleasure to bring along a good friend of mine Ryan Thomas. Ryan is making history in Vancouver with the world's largest Yoga event taking place at BC Place Stadium on July 12th, 2009. There was a large amount of buzz in the room this morning while Ryan told the group about what he is doing and many members were clambering to participate. The project started with a fitness guide but has morphed into an event that Guiness is going to be on hand to recognize as the largest of its kind ever to take place. All proceeds of the event will be going to local children's charities. Stay tuned to www.fitguide.ca as details will be released shortly.

The guide itself is full of useful tips and tricks for a healthy lifestyle and lots of great offers from local health facilities. The book is available for $25 and it will also get you a free ticket to the record breaking event. In the short term feel free to contact me for more details. Neil Hamilton of Stay Positive BC and the facilitator of the Yaletown meeting was quick to offer the support of Stay Positive and I think the two organizations will be a great fit for one another. I look forward to seeing where this goes, stay tuned for more info soon.

Cheers,

Chuck
604-720-7563

Stay Positive BC

With all the negativity being reported in the news these days a whisper of optimism is a breath of fresh air. A group of local business people in Vancouver being lead by Neil Hamilton, Robert Arthurs, Tatsuya Nakagawa and Bonnie Sainsbury are leading the charge to keep the good news flowing.

One of the local newspapers published this article http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver/local/article/206172 in lead up to a big networking event being put on by the group. I would highly recommed anyone in the Vancovuer area to get more invovled and those who do not live in Vancouver to take some insipration by what these folks are doing and launch a similar initiative in your city. Perspective is everything and taking a possitive outlook can go a long way to bring each and every one of us great success.

Cheers,
Chuck

Brian Tracy-The new Mental Diet

The New Mental Diet
By: Brian Tracy

One of the most powerful personal programming activities you can engage in is positive self-talk. Be your own cheerleader and talk to yourself positively all of the time.Think About Your DreamsAs it happens, the average person talks to himself in a negative way. As much as 94 percent of your inner dialogue tends to be about the things you fear, your worries, the people you're angry at, your problems, your concerns and so on. You have to consciously keep your words, your inner dialogue, consistent with what you wish to accomplish.

The Most Powerful AntidotePsychologists have proven that the words, "I can do it," are the antidote to the fear of failure that often holds you back from trying. Repeat these words over and over to yourself whenever you feel fearful or doubtful about anything that you want to attempt. Say very enthusiastically to yourself, "I can do it, I can do it, I can do it!" When you start saying, "I can do it, I can do it," you drive that message deep into your subconscious mind. This message lowers your fears and builds your self-confidence.

Another thing you can say to yourself is, "I make a million. I make a million." Impress that message into your subconscious mind. Whenever you think about your work, say over and over again, "I'm the best, I'm the best, I'm the best." Making any one of these three statements, or anything that is positive makes you feel good about yourself and causes you to be more motivated. You become more focused, more determined. Wealthy, successful people have a continuous inner dialogue that is positive and constructive and uplifting and consistent with their goals and objectives.Feed Your Mind ContinuallyFeed your mind from morning to night with words, pictures, information and ideas consistent with your goals for financial success.

Develop the habit of thinking positively and confidently about wealth accumulation. Read stories, books and articles about other successful people. Think about how you could be like them. Visualize yourself, imagine, fantasize, pretend in your mind that you are like the kind of people that you admire and respect and want to be like.Select A Role ModelPsychologists have proven that role models are essential for magnetizing your mind with the qualities and characteristics that you wish to develop in yourself. Pick a person that you admire. Whenever you face any kind of difficult situation, ask yourself, how would this person act in this situation? What would this person do? How would this person behave? You'll find that when you think about how someone you admire might behave, your own thinking becomes better and you tend to act at your very best.

Become An ExpertRead everything you can find about your business. Become an expert in your field. The more you learn about your profession, your trade and your craft, the more confident you will become that you can do well in it.Action ExercisesHere are two things you can do to put yourself on the new mental diet for financial success:First, repeat to yourself, over and over again, the wonderful words "I can do it! I can do it! I can do it!" Whenever you are anticipating any new goal or opportunity. This affirmation builds your self-confidence and conditions you for success.Second, monitor your mental diet the way you would your physical diet.

Be sure that you feed yourself throughout the day with positive stories, words, pictures and conversations about the things you want to have in your life. Refuse to read, watch, listen to or discuss things that are negative or depressing. This will make a tremendous difference in how you feel and how you act.

Canadian Marketing Summit Live online

You can view live in real time the Canadian Marketing Summit which is going on right now in Richmond. I am here and it is awesome content and speakers. Tune in and see what I mean
http://canadamarketingsummit.com/

Negotiation is Crap by Jeff Gitomer

HELP! I need to get better at negotiation!

by Jeff Gitomer

Eh, no Sparky, you need to get better at everything else so that you NEVER have to negotiate – or at least negotiate 90% less.Negotiation is for people who are lousy at selling, don’t understand buying motives, haven’t provided value, are unable to differentiate themselves from the competition, can’t build trust, and have utterly failed at building relationships.Maybe that’s why you have to “negotiate.”

Negotiation is not a problem. It’s a symptom.And negotiate is only one of three words that make up your reality, and the real definition. The other two words are: your price. Negotiations are all about “concessions” and back and forth bickering about what you provide and how much it will cost. Negotiation “experts” call it give-and-take or win-win. That’s a bunch of crap. It’s lower your price, and sacrifice your profit.

I’m in the airplane as many as 20 times a month. In every airline magazine, there’s a two-page pullout ad for “effective negotiation.” It’s been in the magazines for years. It must work. I mean… they must be successful in selling the course. Their latest ad campaign states in bold headlines, “It’s like steroids for your career!” Uh, correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t steroids illegal? Hey, you too can gain an unfair advantage! All you have to do is break the law. Sounds great – where do I sign up?In the case of negotiation, it’s a violation of the law of fair play, manipulation, ethics, and relationship. Reason you have to “negotiate?” You were calling on the wrong person or people in the first place.

REALITY: People in the C-suite don’t negotiate. They discuss, discern, and decide. And they do it based on perceived value and trust, not price.REALITY: Here’s why you have to negotiate:• You failed to prove value beyond your competition.• You failed to prove you were different from others selling the same product.• You failed to gain enough trust to get a decision.• You didn’t win on the lowest price, and they called you in to “match the price of the lowest vendor” and potentially win the business.• You won the business at a low level, and were sent to procurement.

All upside down propositions (and you are at the bottom).And, once you’re “in negotiations to get the business,” you’re relegated to manipulating and groveling to get the business – at a lower price, and less (or no) profit. Great move. And you call that making the sale. I call it a pyrrhic victory.The whole concept of negotiation seems like a win-lose proposition. They win. You lose.And to make matters worse, at the end of a “successful” negotiation, you halfway hate the people you were negotiating with – especially if they were in purchasing or procurement with some big company. People who want to suck your blood, and then call you a partner, or worse, a valued profit partner.

If you want to know if it’s likely that you will have to negotiate in order to win the deal or the sale, answer these questions:How high up in the organization is the person you’re dealing are you?What is your value proposition?Do you know how the customer profits as a result of buying your product?What is the customer’s urgency to buy?How are you perceived?Do you have their trust?How strong is your relationship?What is your reputation in the marketplace?

MAJOR CLUE: CEOs tell procurement departments what to do. With one phone call, they can eliminate all negotiations and create a purchase order, from a now friendly, or even accommodating, purchasing agent.In my opinion, negotiation is nothing more than someone else trying to get in your wallet and lower your price. In my opinion, if you’re negotiating, it’s because you started too low on the sales food chain (because it was easier entry), and you’re now faced with a price war.

Departments like plant maintenance, IT, HR, office admin, and other low level (yes low level) branches of a business have budgets that they spend. Maybe you should be talking to the people that MAKE the budgets for greater success.And just so we’re clear, I’m not saying, “don’t take the negotiation course.” Any knowledge on how to win, and how to deal with customers could prove to be valuable. I AM saying if you have to use negotiation to win a sale, it’s likely you have given up your profit along the way. Not good.

The Worst Strategy Ever Devised for Selling Your Services

The Worst Strategy Ever Devised for Selling Your Services
By Bob Bly

The other day I got an e-mail from JT, a professional proofreader, who expressed her grave concern that she had found more than one typo among the dozens of websites I own.
"Can I be direct without being offensive?" asked JT. "Let me start by saying that my only reason for writing this e-mail is that I want to work with you, because I think we could both benefit from collaboration."

JT continued: "You need a new proofreader - and if you do your own proofreading, you need to fire yourself from that job!"
Did I hire JT as my new proofreader?

No. Because I did, in fact, find her e-mail to be both offensive and self-serving. Yet many freelancers and independent contractors who render creative, professional, and technical services take a similar approach to self-marketing. And it almost never works.
The basis of this horribly inappropriate and ineffective method is: Approach complete strangers... point out a fault with something they are doing... and then offer your services to help them fix the defect.

On the surface, it seems sensible. You are doing someone a favor by helping them correct a defect that could be hurting their business, right? So you'd think they'd be grateful and reciprocate by hiring you to fix the problem you alerted them to. After all, you have already demonstrated your expertise, skill, and value by detecting the problem for them without charge.
But here's the problem: Most folks, including me, don't like unsolicited advice.
One of the inviolate rules of my life, both business and personal, is: Never give unsolicited advice.

Advice is valued only if three conditions exist: (1) The advice is sought after (i.e., the recipient asked for it), (2) it is not negative or insulting, and (3) it is constructive and specific.
JT's e-mail to me violated the first and second of these conditions.
First, I didn't ask her to proofread for me. So why should she do it?

Prospects prefer to work with vendors who are successful and in demand... not with those they perceive as desperate and needy. The fact that JT is spending her time proofreading copy for strangers without compensation tells me she probably isn't very busy.
Second, she insults me - telling me I am a lousy proofreader and I should "fire" myself.
Customers buy from people they like. And we don't like people who insult us.
Another problem with trying to win business by giving unsolicited critiques or advice to strangers is that you risk looking ignorant. That's because you lack the background on their situation to know whether your suggestions are valid and warranted.

In JT's case, she assumed I had a typo on a landing page because I'm a bad proofreader. She's wrong. The real reason you can find typos on some of my sites is that I have literally hundreds of pages posted on the Web. And with my team already overloaded, we simply can't always keep up with our proofreading and other tasks that are not critical to sales.

A better approach for JT would have been to point out the typo, and then say, "Are your proofreaders overloaded? Hire me to take on the backlog and get those pesky typos off your sites forever." That would have been more appealing to me than assuming we stink at proofreading, which we don't.

Finally, JT violates the Silver Rule of Marketing, first articulated to me by marketing consultant Pete Silver.
He told me: "It is always better to get them to come to you, rather than you go to them."
By violating this rule and soliciting my business, JT placed herself in a weak position.
It may be that I don't care about typos. (Not true, but there are people who don't, believe it or not.) If that were the case, JT would be pursuing an unqualified prospect.
Even if I had been interested in her offer, she would have to work hard to convince me that she is the proofreader I should hire. I've never heard of her, have no idea who she is, and therefore certainly do not perceive her as an expert or top pro in editing and proofreading.
On the other hand, if you get prospects to come to you because of your reputation as a recognized expert or top pro in your field, you don't have to do a lot of convincing or selling, because those prospects are already predisposed to hire you.

I would advise JT to stop wasting her time criticizing the websites of marketers who don't want those critiques, and may even resent them. Instead, she should take steps to position herself as an expert - maybe by writing a column on proper English for a respected business magazine, creating a course on copyediting, or speaking at conferences.Had she done that, I might have come running to her for help, instead of running away.

if.... Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and DisasterAnd treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!--

Rudyard Kipling

Be the customer you want to have

I have always been a firm believer in the notion you should always sell on value and never on price. I was meeting with a prospect today who was in search of marketing help for his 18 month old business. He was saying all of the right things telling me his business was doing well but he wanted to be doing better.

One of the strategies for improving the business was to upgrade the quality of client he went after. He told me how he wanted to service the same number of clients per month but greatly increase his revenue per client thus making his a much more profitable business using the same number of hours in a week.I was all ears and eager to speak further with him as on the surface he was an ideal client with a good mind for business. Well it appeared that way until he dropped the bombshell. Even though he wanted top quality customers who understood value and did not shop on price; he wanted to only shop on price for the services he needed to improve his business. Put another way he wanted to buy from the lowest bidder. I politely thanked him for his time and explained I was probably not the best fit for him.

I am sharing this example with you as I have seen this all too common mistake so many times in business. I think Emerson put it best when he said “What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say”. One of the most important characteristics successful business people must have is that of sincerity and integrity. I would like to pose this question to you, how can you look a customer in the eye and tell him you honestly believe the best business decision is to buy on value and not price if you do not prove it with your own actions?

There are certain unbreakable laws in the Universe such as the Law of Attraction which states what you put out is what you get back. If you wish to have a large base of customers who are value driven and are willing to pay the price for good results you must first be that person yourself. Once you become the person you want to attract the customers you seek will seek you out and your calendar will be forever full.There are no short cuts to success; the Law of Attraction is always working either for you or against you. Play your cards right, act in harmony with your beliefs and good things will happen, this you can take to the bank. Remember, the universe sees all and everyone gets what they have earned.

Cheers,
Chuck

How to beat Bobby Fischer

I have a very simple question for you; how do you beat the great chess Grandmaster Bobby Fischer? The simple answer of course is to play him at anything other than chess. When you think about it it would seem to be common sense right? In a simplistic way it is common sense; however, people seem to move away from this seemly obvious piece of advice on a daily basis.

The basic lesson here is to work your strengths and avoid the strengths of your competitors. It comes down to defining your own niche and staying focused on that. General Electric (GE) became the largest and most successful company in the world in the 1990s by following this rule under the leadership of the legendary Jack Welch. The rule was simple, be either number 1 or 2 in the field or get out of that field.

There is no reason to suffer along doing something you hate or are no good at when there are so many more productive and profitable things you could be doing. This does require you to ask yourself some difficult questions on occasion. The ability to be honest with yourself is a skill which will take you far beyond where you find yourself today.

Are you playing to your strengths? What is keeping you from doing it? Do you have a clear idea of what your strengths are? Are you focused on being productive or are you procrastinating with busy work? A little bit of focus in your life is all you really need to beat Bobby Fischer, are you ready to go for it? Need some help with this? Well then perhaps we need to talk...... I am here to help anyone who is willing.... help is always available for those who ask for it.

Cheers,

Chuck

The law of abundance

One of the first lessons to becoming wealthy and successful is to understand the principles of the Law of Abundance. The Law of Abundance states that there is plenty of everything to go around all you need to do is be ready to accept your share. This share can be of anything you can conceive of in your mind whether it is money, friends, material goods, energy, health and even happiness.The secret to the Law of Abundance is that to be able to you receive you must be ready. This is where most people run into trouble with the law.

A simple way to think about this is to imagine a closet full of clothes. Suppose you would like a wardrobe full of designer clothing made by the world’s best fashion designers of Paris, London and New York but your closest is crammed full of clothes you bought at Wal-Mart. Until you empty out your closet of the old clutter there will be no room for you to add the designer clothes you want to have.This emptying of the closet does not just apply to clothing; it applies to every aspect of your life. You must get rid of all of you baggage both physical and emotional to allow into your life the things and the people you want to have.Another example of this would be relationships. Supposed you are in an abusive relationship with a partner who does not respect you. Before you can begin a new healthy relationship with someone new you must first end the old unhealthy one. Ask yourself, what baggage is holding me back from achieving what I want in life? What do I need to eliminate from my life to begin reaping the rewards of the Law of Abundance?

To really understand this principle I often talk about the internal thermostat each one of us has when it comes to all aspects of our own lives. A thermostat is a very simple device used to maintain consistency. I am sure you are familiar with the one in your home. You set it to the temperature you would like you home to maintain. For example if you would like your home to maintain a moderate temperature of 70 degrees your thermostat will accomplish that for you. As the room cools down it will turn on the heater and heat the room back up to the 70 degrees you want it to be. Conversely, as the temperature of the room rises the thermostat will kick the air conditioning to cool things back down to your ideal temperature once more.

As I mentioned each one of us has one of these thermostats in our own mind that controls each aspect of our lives such as money, happiness and health. Human nature is for us to seek our comfort zone, when we reach it we all get nice and cozy. When it comes to money each one of us has a different comfort zone. We need enough money for rent, food, car payment and the other items we deem a necessity in life. The list of necessities will be different with everyone but the premise remains the same. We all have a standard of living we are used to and have a desire to maintain. Our built in thermostat is designed to keep us in this comfort zone and allows us to maintain the standard of living we have chosen for ourselves.

Sooner or later in life change will come along that threatens the comfortable bubble we have grown accustom to and our little thermostat jumps into action. Perhaps this change has made money tight or we have lost a job. You will begin working overtime, searching for a new job or taking on a second one to get back to the level of income required for you to be in your comfort zone. I am sure you can think back to several times in your life when this was the case. I can recall times working 70 hour work weeks on 2 jobs just to make ends meet when I was younger. This is our thermostat at working getting us back to where we are comfortable again. There is a minimum standard each of us will not allow ourselves to be below.

The flip side of this is when we have too much money or too much happiness. I know this sounds counter intuitive but it happens far more often than your probably think it does. Have you ever read about someone who has won the lottery only to be broke again in 6 months or a year? Perhaps you have seen people lining up to buy big screen TVs when the tax returns come in?

My good friend Tim runs a pizza delivery restaurant and once a week without fail they receive countless $50 or $100 orders coming from the poorest neighborhoods in the city on the day that welfare cheques are issued.
Each one of these are examples of our thermostats kicking in to get us back to where we are pre-programmed to be. I know it seems obvious that being broke or poor would be an uncomfortable place to be; however, the sad truth is comfort is often found in what we are familiar with.

Can you relate to any of these situations? Have you ever found yourself going on a shopping spree when you got a bonus at work? Do you ever go out for dinner or to the bar after work on payday? Perhaps after a few days on a new diet you find yourself eating an entire bag of potato chips in one sitting? Or maybe you pay for a gym membership each month and yet you cannot remember the last time you actually went to the gym? I am pretty sure at least one of these situations is all to familiar to you or someone you know.

So now the question becomes, what in your life are you trying to change but have so far been unable to do so? Would you like to be making more money? Perhaps you would like to be spending less money? Are you looking to lose weight? Are you wondering why every relationship you enter into seems to end badly? The definition of failure has long been regarded as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results.

Where you program your internal thermostat to is a very powerful self fulfilling prophecy. To make real meaningful change in your life you have to first consciously become aware of where you have set your thermostat to and then consciously begin to change it. Once you can clear the clutter you allow yourself to move forward toward success. In order to become successful you must first give yourself permission to do so. Remember the golden rule when it comes to the Law of Abundance, nothing is neutral. Everything you do either helps you or hinders you along the way so be clear on what you want and make sure you remove your own roadblocks so when you are offered the gifts in life you are able to accept them.

One of the best things you can do to begin this process is emulate someone who is successful already in an area you would like to be successful in. If you want to be better with your time and your money, then start hanging around those people who are great with their time and have money.

To begin this process you must first understand what your current reality is. What kind of person are you now? How much money do you have? How many friends do you have? How much do you weigh? In order to improve in any area you must first be able to take an unbiased view of yourself and accurately figure out where you are at.

One way to do this is to take a look at the 5 people you associate with most often; your five closest friends. If you were to take the income of each of the 5 of them and add it together and then divide by 5 you would be very close to your own personal income. Take a look at the fitness levels of your 5 friends and I bet the average is pretty close to yours.

The reason for this is we most like to associate with people who share our hobbies, interests and activities. You and your friend will often eat at the same places, exercise similar amounts and go to the same activities or seminars. So let me ask you a question you may find to be uncomfortable. Is your current group of friends the best people for you to be hanging around with based on your goals in life? When you express your desire to change for the better are they going to support you and go along with you for the ride? Are they going to ridicule you and tell you they think you are being foolish?

There is a widely known story of crabs in a bucket which I feel is very relevant in this situation. Put several crabs into a bucket with no lid and leave it for a while; not a single crab will be able to escape. This is because as soon as one crab attempts to pull his way out of the bucket all of the other ones will quickly respond and pull him back in. The crabs would rather wallow together as a group of failures than allow one of their brethren to escape to freedom while they are still in the bucket.

This is also a very sad example of what happens in our society each and every day. It is far easier to pull people down than it is to help them up. The reason for this is it makes people feel bad to see someone who is “just like them” to be successful. As a general rule people are far more likely to criticize you for your failed attempt than to offer you a word of encouragement. The average child hears the word no approximately 10 times more often than he hears the word yes. This is an alarming stat that to means needs to change and needs to change quickly.

So I ask you this question one more time; is your current group of friends the best people for you to be hanging around with based on your goals in life? If you truthfully answered yes to this question you are truly blessed with wonderful friends and you should feel fortunate to have such wonderful people in your life. Take a minute to write a thank you card to each and every one of them thanking them for the support they have given you thus far and tell them how blessed you feel to count each of them as a friend.

Conversely; if the answer was no, congratulations you have made your first achievement in this process. You have identified a goal for yourself; identify some successful people to make friends with.

Let me take a minute here to clarify one thing before we move on. I am not suggestion you stop being friends with your college buddies who make you laugh so hard beer shoots out of your nose, that is not what I am getting at here. I am suggesting it is time to widen your scope and become introduced to new people and new ideas. Moderation is the key here for everything.