The Chuck Method

Buck the trend, retire with money

2009-07-28T16:38:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-06T16:17:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-03T09:39:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-29T15:39:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-24T09:33:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-18T23:04:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-08T10:18:00.001-07:00

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

5 reasons to network in a tough economy

2009-04-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-07T22:43:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-29T14:04:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-27T11:28:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-26T23:08:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-24T22:43:00.000-07:00

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

2009-01-04T22:29:00.000-08:00

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.

Freedom

2006-03-27T18:07:00.000-08:00

I was asked a very intriguing question this afternoon which has caused me to ponder. The most interesting part of it was not how easy it was for me to answer, but how in depth the thought process became. The question was what is more important; to be physically free or mentally free?

To me it really was a no brainer, I think the most important one is for us to be mentally free. I think often times as sad as it is; people who are no longer physically free (such as those in prisons) are only there because they did not have the mental freedom to begin with.

I am a firm believer that we get what we think about most of the time. We as human beings have an incredible power buried deep in our minds, which most of us fail to tap into. However, for those who have learned to harness this power, there really is no physical barrier that can hold you back.

When you set your mind to something completely you will always find a way to get to your goal. Every time I have been mentally determined to achieve something I have done it. To me the only thing required to achieve complete freedom is the determination to have it. Set your mind towards you goals and never look back.

Cheers,

Chuck
chuck@chuckbrady.ca

Creativity vs. Conformity

2006-03-24T09:08:00.000-08:00

I was reading this study recently and it really made me appreciate something I have long seen to be true from my own experiences.

In one series of I.Q. tests given to children ages 2 - 4 years, 95% of the children were found to be highly creative with curious, questioning minds and an ability for abstract thinking. When the same children were tested again at age 7, only 5% still demonstrated high levels of creativity. In the ensuing years, they had learned to conform. They had learned to color between the lines, to sit in neat little rows, to do and say what the other kids did and said, and to do as they were told.

I noticed early in life that often times success in school had little or nothing to do with intelligence or how well I grasped the material. I noticed success in school (when I say success I mean good grades on our current grading system) had much more to do with how compliant I was in regards to the wishes of the teacher.

I was very fortunate that may parents put a much larger emphasis on results and creativity than following the accepted norms. So many children go through life being told to pay attention in school, get a good job and do the “normal” things. I don’t know about you but having seen the quality of life these “normal” people are living these days it is not a path I would want to follow.

Most of us have years of conditioning to overcome in order to regain the creativity and forward thinking we had as young children. But knowing the change is needed is your first step on the road to success.

Cheers,

Chuck

chuck@chuckbrady.ca

Unpaid Consulting- Stop doing it

2006-03-21T21:44:00.000-08:00

I was having a very good meeting today with a client and friend from my BNI group. This particular fellow is a sales trainer for the Sandler Sales Institute. I shared with him how valuable I have found one of the lessons he is consistently talking about. This lesson is the topic of unpaid consulting.

I like to think of unpaid consulting as when we are going through the sales process; we do a fine job of education the potential customer on our product or service. Invest our time and energy giving the customer the information they need, only to have them go buy from a competitor with their new found body of knowledge.

One of the most important lessons I have learned in sales and business is that it is perfectly acceptable to tell a client, “that is a great question, and that is exactly the type of information I will provide you with once we have secured this deal”.

In my daily routine I am always peppered with questions about blogs, and I am happy to answer the basic ones. However, when it comes to the questions about strategy and how a customer goes about achieving results, those I do not answer until they have cut a cheque.

Don’t be afraid to stand firm, your knowledge is worth paying for. Once you convince yourself of this you will be spending much more time working with clients, and much less time working with prospects. Trust me when I say, clients are much more lucrative than prospects.

These are my two cents on the day,

Chuck

chuck@chuckbrady.ca

Entertainment book for business

2006-03-21T21:20:00.000-08:00

Over the past few weeks I have had the pleasure of working on the beta testing for this great new program being put together by Bitron Global. Now officially since it has not launched yet I really shouldn’t be putting this out in writing, but the odds of someone reading this who shouldn't know is slim to none so I am going to do it anyway.

One of the biggest challenges that businesses face is finding customers. The other issue we face is that of reducing our costs. Every day in business we spend money on things anywhere from advertising, stationary, postage to web design. With this in mind a group of us came together looking for a better way, and I do believe we have found it.

A buying group is nothing new to the world; we see examples of group buying power all over the place such as your local chamber of commerce. One of the biggest reasons a small business owner will join something like a chamber is they can get better rates on their benefits packages due to the group buying power. We have just taken this concept and put it on steroids.

Though my last post seemed completely random it is just one of the great deals I have been able to put together with this program. Basically we have accumulated a whole whack of great deals in one place and created a buying and selling frenzy. You may be thinking this a simple or crazy idea, but I tell you it is working and working well. You can’t say I didn’t warn you….

Cheers,

Chuck
chuck@chuckbrady.ca

Bitron Rewards - Hot deal for the week

2006-03-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

Today’s Bi-Tron Rewards Hot Sheet---Info Canada Sign’s Deal With Bi-Tron Global

Bi-Tron Rewards Offer: “Find Your Next 100 Customers: Info Canada is providing
100 Free Leads
For Sales and Marketing Your Business

Value: $190.00

Contact: Troy Lalonde
Phone: 604-253-1111
E. Mail: troy.lalonde@infocanada.ca

We are spreading the word: Bi-Tron Rewards Card $ 39.95 per year above offer “priceless”
What are new customers worth to any business? Q: Could you use some more leads??????

If this sounds interesting to you please let me know.

Cheers,

Chuck

chuck@chuckbrady.ca
604-720-7563

Blogs- Laughter is the best medicine

2006-03-07T09:06:00.000-08:00

The more times I speak to groups about blogs and the more clients I consult on the subject the more I get asked the same questions time and time again. There is no secret these days that blogs are here, we hear about them all the time. It seems however that Joe Public is still having a tough time wrapping his mind around the concept; moreover, business people always ask me “what use to me is an online chat thingy”. To answer your question yes most people call it the “online chat thingy” this is not me using technical jargon.

I think what is most overlooked in our current economic model is the burning desire for customers to feel engaged in the sales process. The deepest human desire we have is the need to feel important. The number one reason a person leaves a job is not the money, it is because they do not feel appreciated. Blogs allow a company to reach out to their customers and treat them like an individual and provide them with that level of importance they are craving.

I have been heard many times saying that when monumental changes take place such as the emergence of blogs, the companies who act upon the changes are the ones laughing all the way to the bank. Conversely, those companies who are forced to react to the changes are often left standing in line at the food back. I have seen too many fledgling companies who are so scared to open themselves up to the scary outside world they put up a protective wall of privacy. While this may keep the company safe, it is anything but secure. My broker Patrick Britton has a great tag line on all his emails, it says “The rich invest to win; the poor invest not to lose.”

If you find your company in business not to lose money, perhaps it is time to pack up shop and find a new line of work. However if you want to grow and flourish in our new digital world get blogging, you will be glad you did. Remember folks, you heard it hear first. I look forward to seeing the laughter on your face.

Cheers,

Chuck

Stop talking and listen

2006-03-06T22:29:00.000-08:00

I had an enlightening experience this afternoon that I thought was worth sharing as I feel it illustrates one of the fundamental problems many sales people face. I received a phone call from a gentleman I met at a trade show last week. I had stopped by his booth to find out what his company did. We had a brief conversation at the show and exchanged business cards.

This gentleman called me today to follow up on our conversation and give me his sales pitch. However he got off on the wrong foot and never succeeded in getting me interested, even though he has a service I think could be invaluable. The reason I say this poor fellow got off on the wrong foot is that he immediately started telling me all the wonderful things his program can do for me, except that he didn’t ask me any questions about my current situation.

I would have been quite willing to give him any information he asked for had he taken the time to ask me some questions. HOWEVER, he did not choose to ask me he instead decided to tell me what I should find useful.

I think too many sales people fall into this trap of talking when they should be listening. This man was very nice and polite (though this was really the only reason I stayed on the phone as long as I did) but he did nothing to grab my attention, or more importantly nothing to give me a reason to part with my hard earned money.

To me the best approach to take is not one of selling but one of educating and providing solutions for expressed problems or challenges. It is amazing the things you can learn if you just take the time to ask some questions remember everyone is tuned into the same radio station WIIFM (what’s in it for me), if you can relate your pitch to what is important to your customer your results will increase dramatically.

Cheers,

Chuck

Creating a dynamic personal profile

2006-03-06T09:03:00.000-08:00

The first and foremost thing to remember about blogs is that they are a way for a person to express themselves. So with this in mind the first and most important thing to create is a personal profile.

Your profile is a way for people to get to know you a little better as a person. Your profile should include a picture that makes you look human, not a corporate robot. As well as a little bit of information about you personally and professionally. Ultimately your blog profile is a way for people to relate to you. People like to do business with those they know and trust and this is a way to create that trust.

One of the biggest mistakes new bloggers make is they think of a blog as just another website and use the regular company mantra in place of a profile. While it may keep your lawyers and accountants happy, company mantra does build intimate customer relationships.

When posting to a blog you should write as if you were writing a letter to a close friend. Tell personal stories; if you are referring to a product or service say what it has done for you. If you are talking about someone in our group you have done business with, say how they made you feel. The reason blogs are becoming so popular is that unlike the mainstream media they allow people to feel personally involved with the information they are receiving.

Blogs are meant to add the human element to business. Human means that people see it as being real and something or someone they can relate to. Be personal, be creative and most of all be yourself and you will like the results you get.

Personal Reflection

2006-03-05T23:38:00.000-08:00

A number of weeks ago I wrote about solitude and the power it can have on our thoughts and our mind. I was very amazed at the response it generated and the stories people have told me about their experiences with it. It was off topic a little from what I normally write about but something that is quite important to me. With this in mind I wanted to share some thoughts on a similar topic, that of personal reflection.

I think in life sometimes we have a lot of difficulty asking ourselves the tough questions that would elicit change in our behaviors. It is usually easier for us to travel along a path of least resistance, than it is for us to face the music and make a powerful change for the better. We all have said those magic words that someday things will change for the better.

I for one think that waiting for someday is not an acceptable route to take. I have been fortunate in my life to have friends and mentors help me by being a catalyst for positive growth and change. I can think of numerous epiphanies in my life that have come from a single word or phrase uttered by someone I care about.

What I have discovered to be the key ingredient is my own burning desire to succeed. It has often been said that you can not say the wrong thing to the right person. I think that by allowing myself to be ready for change it has helped me in invaluable ways I could not even begin to describe.

Brian Tracy always asks the question “is what I am doing right now moving me closer to my goals?” I find that by asking myself this question both personally and professionally I am able to determine what the right thing for me to do is. The most important thing to remember is that the right thing is probably not the easy thing. To me true courage is doing the right thing in every situation. Take the time to determine what is right for you and don’t let anyone get you sidetracked and success will be your oyster.

Bon Appetite,

Chuck

Inner Focus

2006-03-05T19:59:00.000-08:00

I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about a wonderful course I am taking and the effects it is having on me. I am taking a personal development course called Achieving Excellence through a local organization called Focused on You.

One of the exercises did was doing a complete who am I, I must say it was probably the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life. Though it was quite tough it was also the most rewarding thing I have done as well. It caused me to take a long deep look inside of myself and look at every aspect of my life both personally and professionally and identify what is truly important to me and where I want to be moving forward.

It also really showed me just how important to me my values are, in particular how strongly I feel about keeping my personal life and professional life in harmony. I must say that thanks to the wonderful help of Donna Willon I am achieving this wonderfully.

I have seen it written many times over how important it is to have a coach in life and this is me saying I completely agree and echo those sentiments. Even if you think you know where you are going, the smallest tweaks can make a huge difference in your long term results. Take the time to know yourself and who you become will amaze even yourself.

Cheers,

Chuck

Giving back

2006-03-05T19:27:00.000-08:00

I find that sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own lives we sometimes forget how lucky and blessed we really are. I sometimes find myself in awe of this wonderful city and country I live in. I know I am biased but I say Vancouver is the best city in the world to be in.

Though most people who live here know this, I think so few appreciate it as much as they could. To me one of the most valuable things we can do as successful business people and all round humanitarians is to give back to those who are less fortunate than ourselves.

Randy Gage writes a lot about prosperity and what it means to be truly prosperous in life. He talks in depth about how it is not enough to make a lot of money, or have nice things but we have to live a balanced life that includes giving. The more we give both of ourselves and our money the more we will have in life.

I for one really believe in this theory and that those who give are the one who gain the most out of life both financial and spiritually. To be successful in life requires we be happy with ourselves and our surroundings, so why not do what you can to make the world a better place.

These are my two cents on the day,

Cheers,

Chuck

Blogs-Plagiarism is not a bad thing!

2006-02-17T13:45:00.000-08:00

One of the areas that make blogs really unique and revolutionary is that plagiarism is actually encouraged. It is not necessary that a company creates all its blog material from scratch. Doing your research and collecting useful data from other sources is highly encouraged.

One point of etiquette is to make sure you reference and link back to your source. If you do this, it is flattering to the original author and a source of pride for many bloggers. This is another change from the tradition business mindset of what’s mine is mine.

A good business person today is one who is seen as a body of knowledge who can help many people. We live in a world where solution selling is King and whoever has the most solutions to offer sits atop the throne. So in the world of blogs, don’t be shy to share what you have learned. Pass along the wisdom of other and you just may get yourself a seat in the palace.

Cheers,

Chuck

Washington Post Intergrates Blogs

2006-02-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

I found this article written by Marshall Kirkpatrick to be very interesting. It is just another example of how blogs are working their way into all the things we think of as our traditional media.

The Washington Post is now using a two pronged approach to get full coverage of its news stories. For those of you who are still wondering just what a blog is or if it is something meaningful, this is just another example of the power of Blogs.

Cheers,

Chuck

Blogs-The revolution is here

2006-02-17T11:41:00.000-08:00

One of the things about blogs that I don’t think too many people realize is just how prevalent they have become in a very short period of time. Blogs now account for over 40% of the sites and traffic on the net and they are still in their infancy.

I am of the belief that by the end of 2006 they could be up to 70% of our internet usage. For anyone in business who thinks blogs are not significant it is time to think again, AND QUICKLY.

In this high paced world that we live in, ignorance is not bliss. There are numerous examples in the past of once hugely successful companies who didn’t adapt with the marketplace and suffered tremendously because of this. Today we don’t have to look any farther than GM.

If your company does not want to suffer the same fate as GM, make sure you are aware of what is going on in the market place. In the market if your customer’s change their buying habits and you are not proactively changing along with them you will be left out in the cold. Blogs are here to stay so the time to embrace them is NOW.

Remember, you heard it here first folks,

Cheers,

Chuck

Olympic Lessons

2006-02-12T18:08:00.000-08:00

With the winter Olympics starting in Turin, the eyes of the world are on our wonderful athletes. Having spent a good portion of my life in competitive sports I have a deep appreciation for the type of commitment it takes to achieve such a high honor. I think one of the most impressive elements of the Olympic experience is that the athletes are competing for national pride, not money.

I think there is much that can be learned from this mindset of excellence. If an average person could harness just a small portion of the energy and ambition our Olympic athletes have, just think of the positive changes that could be made in the world we live in.

I think the underlying commonality between our elite athletes and the elite members of society is the focus of a goal. Think of aspects of your life as the medal podium and find ways in which you can strive to be at the top of that podium.

Like in the Olympics your motivation can not be money. If you aim for a higher purpose and strive for it selflessly you can’t help but be a success at whatever you choose to do.

Cheers,

Chuck

Internet Marketing-The next generation

2006-02-12T11:40:00.000-08:00

One of the features of the blog world that most people seem to gravitate to is the search feature, which allows someone to run a 24/7 search and have new results instantly delivered to them. For instance, I have a search running on my name, Chuck Brady. Anytime anyone uses my name on the net I am instantly notified and see what they wrote and in what context.

This is a very powerful tool for business owners for a number of reasons. The first of which is market research. How would you like to track every move your competitors make without having to do anything? The RSS or Atom feeds attached to blogs allow you to achieve this.

The second reason why this is such a great feature is because it allows you to get information to your target market all the time. Many companies use internet marketing techniques like email newsletters to spread their information. The problem with this approach is that the content is only delivered to people in your data base, and you have no idea of knowing whether or not this is content they are interested in reading. With a blog entry your content is instantly delivered to your target market, and what is more IT IS NOT SPAM because it is information they have requested. Your information actually goes looking for your audience on your behalf.

I realize this is a lot of information to take in, this is not meant to be a how to manual, just an eye opener of the possibilities.

Happy Blogging,

CB

Heros of Today

2006-02-11T20:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had one of the most remarkable conversations in my life with a friend of mine. She said something to me that has been resonating with me all day. We were talking about some of the remarkable people in the world who find happiness and success despite all the obstacles and tribulations that are throw their way. She told me about her sister who suffers from cystic fibrosis; and yet never complains, nor asks "why me?” She then said to me, isn’t it interesting how often time the people who get these challenges in life are often the ones who are able to cope and handle such severe adversity?

This really got me thinking to many of the other admirable people in this world. Our recently elected mayor of Vancouver is a wheelchair bound quadriplegic. Here is a man who could come up with so many excuses, but he doesn’t. He is the mayor of one of the premier cities in the world because he made a choice to be successful regardless of what circumstances were thrown at him.

I really believe these people are a blessing to the rest of us and we should heed their achievements. So often we come up with excuses for not achieving our success, but others around us receive more adversity than I can fathom and still come out on top.

My hat goes off to these heroes, and I hope I am not the only one learning from the experiences of others. As a healthy citizen of the best country in the world, I can not be thankful enough for the opportunities in front of me. I truly feel lucky and blessed and motivated to make a difference. I hope you will join me in making this world a better place.

These are my thoughts on the day,

Cheers,

Chuck

Blogs-Problematic or beneficial?

2006-02-09T22:13:00.000-08:00

One of the things that often scares people about blogs is the vulnerability that is felt. There seems to be a common misconception that because blogs are uncensored, having a blog would make a company susceptible to an attack. The truth of the matter is actually quite alarming and the opposite of what most people seem to perceive.

I find myself explaining many times per week that a company not following blogs makes them MUCH more vulnerable because it will leave them unaware if an attack were to take place.

I like to use the analogy of a fire. Think of the difference between a small campfire and a burgeoning forest fire. The camp fire is contained in a small area and can be put out quite quickly and easily. The forest fire however, burns out of control and can take weeks or months to put out. Often nothing can be done to save things in its path.

The same thing is true in the blogsphere. If something derogatory is said about you or your company and you spot it right away you are easily able to set the record straight and provide information to the contrary while only a few people are aware of it. However, if bad information about you is allowed to spread with no retort from you, how is the general public supposed to know the information they are reading is incorrect.

The underlying lesson I am trying to stress is that when it comes to blogs, ignorance is not bliss. Get the real information and you will protect yourself from future problems.

Cheers,

Chuck

Take Time Out For Mental Digestion by Brian Tracy

2006-01-27T16:32:00.000-08:00

"Many years ago a retiring executive gave me an old pamphlet he had carried throughout his career. It was entitled, "Take Time Out for Mental Digestion." He told me that this little pamphlet had been one of the most helpful things he had ever read in his business life. At the time I spoke to him he was the president of a corporation with more than 10,000 employees.

The message of this pamphlet was simple. It said that people always resist new ideas and new courses of action, even if the ideas are good for them. However, if they have an opportunity to think about them for a few days, very often they will come around to the new way of thinking with both agreement and enthusiasm.

The pamphlet said that an individual needs about 72 hours to absorb a new idea. Effective executives are those who present their ideas in very casual way, rather than as a decision or a fact engraved in stone. They present their thoughts as ideas for consideration. Effective executives encourage the other person to take the new idea or new way of doing things and think about it for a few days. They say that "we can discuss this later" and they just leave the idea with the other person."

I just wanted to share this, I found it to be very insightful,

Cheers,

CB

Positive phone attitude-It goes a long way!

2006-01-24T20:38:00.000-08:00

Tonight I was reading one of the many business relationship books I have and I came across a very interesting technique for answering the phone. As I read about it I realized that many times in the past I have used it with great success, I was just unaware I was doing it so I thought I would share my epiphany.

The approach is very simple; you answer the phone in a very neutral professional manner. Then when you discover who is calling and what they are calling about you express sincere appreciation of this. For instance if a good friend were on the phone I would answer “Hello Patrick, it is so wonderful to hear from you, I am very glad you called”.

The same approach can be used if it is a stranger calling about a less than pleasant matter such as a missed bill payment. In this situation you could say, “I am so glad you called, I really appreciate you bringing that to my attention”.

By putting a positive spin on every situation you will always lighten the spirits of the person you are speaking with and will get much better results from those often dreaded phone calls.

My thoughts on the day,

Cheers,

Chuck

Know what you want

2006-01-20T20:54:00.000-08:00

I am very often reminded of just how powerful the human mind can be, and how the forces of nature lead you to what you really want when you do the right things. This was made ever more clear to me this afternoon with an amazing series of events.

About a month ago I had met a fellow at a networking christmas party, we had exchanged cards and spoke for about 10 minutes talking about what we each did and just having some small talk about the holiday season and the usual christmas banter. This fellow had expressed interest in having me setup a blog strategy for his company and wanted to talk about things further in the month of January. I made note of this on his card and had scheduled myself to call him to follow up.

As this month is rapidly passing me by I was making every attempt to free time in my schedule to meet with this fellow and make sure I could give his project the time and energy it deserves. Since time was passing I was a little worried he would not remember our conversation from that day. (during the event I had probably met and exchanged cards with 200 people so keeping track of everyone is often a challenge).

Well less than 10 minutes before I was scheduled to call him this afternoon I received an email from him. He did not know who I was but was refered to me because he wanted to join the BNI chapter of which I am the President of. In his email he stated how he was eager to meet me because he had heard many good things about my reputation and skills.

By focusing my mind on him, he had been drawn back as if to remind me not to let him slip through the cracks. The most amazing part was that his communication took place less than 10 minutes before I was about to call him. I never consider these situations to be luck, only the incredible power of focus and belief. Make up your mind as to what you want in your life and the people you want in your life and great things will happen, you have my word.

My two cents on the day,

Chuck

The Magic of Solitude

2006-01-20T16:46:00.000-08:00

Your feelings and emotions, are the access point to your inner powers of mind. Solitude is the most powerful activity in which you can engage. Men and women who practice it correctly and on a regular basis never fail to be amazed at the difference it makes in their lives.

Most people are so busy being busy, doing something—even watching television—that it’s highly unusual for them to simply sit, deliberately, and do nothing. But as Catherine Ponder points out, “Men and women begin to become great when they begin to take time quietly by themselves, when they begin to practice solitude.” And here’s the method you can use.

To get the full benefit of your periods of solitude, you must sit quietly for at least 30 to 60 minutes at a time. If you haven’t done it before, it will take the first 25 minutes or so for you to stop fidgeting and moving around. You’ll almost have to hold yourself physically in your seat. You’ll have an almost irresistible desire to get up and do something. But you must persist.

Solitude requires that you sit quietly, perfectly still, back and head erect, eyes open, without cigarettes, candy, writing materials, music or any interruptions whatsoever for at least 30 minutes. An hour is better.Become completely relaxed, and breathe deeply. Just let your mind flow. Don’t deliberately try to think about anything. The harder you “don’t try,” the more powerfully it works. After 20 or 25 minutes, you’ll begin to feel deeply relaxed. You’ll begin to experience a flow of energy coming into your mind and body. You’ll have a tremendous sense of well-being. At this point, you’ll be ready to get the full benefit of these moments of contemplation.

Hope you get as much from this as I do,

Cheers,

CB

Benefit Statements

2006-01-10T23:28:00.000-08:00

We all know that networking is one of the most powerful ways in which to grow a business. One of the ways to make your networking opportunities much more powerful is through the development of benefits statements. I believe that everyone should have at least 6 unique benefit statements prepared for whenever someone asks you “so what do you do”.

This sounds very simple but I meet so few people who have mastered the concept. Very simply, a benefit statement gives your listener a reason to care about your product or service and shows them why they would get value out of it. The most common mistake is using features rather than benefits. The difference is often subtle but, in business the subtle differences can be the difference between a sale and a non sale.

One of the product lines I distribute is a series of oil and gas additives for cars and trucks. One of the many features of the product line is that it reduces fuel consumption in a car. Creating a benefit statement for this product line I would use statements like:

“I help people go to the gas pump less often”
“I provide a fuel savings of 20 cents per litre”
“I show people how to get every 5th tank of gas for free”

You will notice that each of these allow my listener to receive a tangible benefit to using my product. I would recommend everyone come up with a number of one line benefit statements around your product or service offering, so when someone asks you “so what do you do” you have an answer that will pique their curiosity.

Happy Selling,

Chuck

Goal Setting

2006-01-04T22:14:00.000-08:00

To me the single most important thing to do is decide what you want and why you want it. Whether you want to make $100,000 a year or simply buy a new lawn mower the process begins with making a decision to want it and a solid concrete reason WHY?

The WHY becomes really important because it is the motivation to get you going when times are tough. If you want to make $100,000 a year because it would be nice, I am here to tell you that is not a powerful WHY. Until you can put yourself in the position of having it, and believing you can achieve it you will never get the things you want. If you want the $100,000 because you have always dreamed of having a cabin on the lake and the nice leather seats of a luxury car then you are on your way to achieving your goals.

To put myself in the right state of mind, I always always always write my goals down. If you can't write it down then you DONT KNOW IT. Always write as if you have already achieved the goal. For example I would write "I EARN $100,000 A YEAR". You are telling your mind you have already achieved it.

The next step is to decide what changes you need to make in your life to make this a reality and write those down. Again writing them down as activities you have already accomplished. For example:

I EARN $100,000 A YEAR
I MAKE 50 COLD CALLS A WEEK
I ARRIVE AT WORK EARLY
I PRIORITIZE MY TIME

What you are doing is programming your subconscious mind with positive affirmations. If you do this on a consistent basis, at least once a week; you will begin to notice great things happening for you. If you tell yourself all the time you are early for work, you will all of a sudden become early for work. One little note about the wording on these. You will note I did NOT say "I will make 50 calls a week." The purpose of this is not to create a wish list of things you would LIKE to do. You are telling your mind what you are GOING to do.

By making this simple shift in your thinking, great things will happen. I have examples too numerous to mention of this working wonderfully for me. Try it and I know you will like the results.

Cheers,

CB

Why blog?

2006-01-04T22:00:00.000-08:00

There are a few key reasons why a business needs to have a blog. The first reason is for increased exposure and how quickly and powerfully a blog can spread information. Currently less than 5% of businesses have a blog but over 40% of the web traffic in Google is accounted for by blogs. This means that 5% of businesses are going after 40% of the web traffic and 95% of business are going after 60% of web traffic. Maintaining a blog greatly increases your exposure in the search engines.

The second thing this new technology allows you to do is track everything that is said in the internet. For instance, I can track any key word or phrase that is used on the internet. If I wanted to know every time the name "Chuck Brady" is used, I could get an instant update with the context in which it was used, delivered right to your inbox without having to do a thing and WITHOUT ANY SPAM. This is a fantastic way to keep track of your competition, keep abreast of your market or to ensure there is never any bad press spreading about your company.

In addition to being able to track key words, you can use this feature of blogging to your advantage to get your content read by a huge audience. The American political parties realized the power of this in the last federal election and blogging became the most critical part of their campaign. Microsoft realized the power of it and they currently have over 2000 employees whose only job is to maintain blogs.

Since blogs create a lot of traffic on the internet that are also very appealing to advertisers. There are lots of opportunities to create ad revenue with no effort on your part. Google knows that 40% of their traffic, and thus 40% of their revenue comes through blogging, so they reward bloggers accordingly. Google currently pays out over 75% of its revenue to its users; you can gain your share of this.

The final and one of the most appealing aspects of blogging is that you do not need a web programmer to do it. Once you have your strategy and blog in place; writing content is as easy as typing an email. This means that it becomes a very affordable marketing vehicle with no long term financial repercussions. As everyone in business knows, if it is not affordable, it does not matter how great it is.

Cheers,

CB

What is a blog?

2006-01-04T21:56:00.000-08:00

I find myself being asked almost on a daily basis just what is a blog. The interesting thing is that each time I am asked I answer the question a little bit differently. It has however got me wondering the best way to explain to someone exactly what this new phenomenon is.

A blog is a combination of web page and email newsletter all rolled into one. It is a webpage in that it has a unique, searchable URL. It is a newsletter in that every time you add something to a blog it is distributed around the world instantly much the same way email is sent. There are countless examples of how quickly information on blogs is spread around the world instantly as messages spread like wild fire.

By now most people have heard about blogs, either through the media or through the grapevine but there are all sorts of misconceptions about blogs and their purpose. I view a blog as nothing more than a communication channel used to spread information. Much in the same way a newspaper spreads news or our roads allow us to travel. A blog is merely a method of distribution.

Like any means of distribution, a blog is only as powerful or as useful as the information it contains. A blog with no content is as good as the Autobahn with no cars. It is the most power method of distributing information yet, but it is up the the blog owner to create useful info.

Happy Blogging,

CB

Restaurant Selling

2005-12-22T21:53:00.000-08:00

This evening I was sent into nostalgia most from a conversation I was having this afternoon. Like many people in business I made my way through University working in the restaurant industry. It was often not only a source of revenue but it was also a staple of my diet for many years. Today got me thinking however and pondering one of the lessons I am always telling people and that is to do what you have done in the past when success was prevalent.

As I was re-living my days in the restaurant I was thinking about how successful some of our add on sales campaigns were and how simple the steps we took to implement them were. I wanted to share some of the lessons I learned and how useful they are.

One of the first things is to always speak to a customer on their level. All to often we find ourselves standing over the customer in an intimidating fashion. The best thing to do is kneel down so you are looking at them eye to eye and they will liken you to a friend rather than someone of authority.

Secondly when aproaching add on items such as deserts, talk about how great it tastes. Create an experience when you are talking about it rather than just talking about what it is. Using words like delicious, scrumptious or delectable will create a mouth watering experience. Always use open ended questions such as which desert can I get you? As apposed to closed questions like "would you like desert". This technique called assuming the sale is one of the most powerful approaches you can use. The power of suggestion is very strong and will have a profound effect on your business.

Finally never under estimate the power of a smile and a kind word. We all know that life is stressful, but telling everyone around you about your bad day will do you no justice. Let your smile be infectious and who knows, maybe you will win that jersey.

Cheers,

CB

Bitron: Excellence- It is your choice

2005-12-22T17:48:00.000-08:00

Bitron: Excellence- It is your choice

A number of years ago I was attending a business conference in St. Louis where I heard a speak by the name of Mark Gorman. I was so inspired by his speach that I bought his tape for my car (yes it was a tape at the time, I did not yet have a CD player). He really emphasised the importants of personal choice and not allowing ourselves to be anything but the best we can be.

"Don't ever let it be said that someone else expected more of you than you expected of yourself. If anyone finds fault in a job which you have done that is less than excellent, don't make excuses. Admit that it was not your best. Don't stand up and try to defend yourself. Why settle for average, when excellence is an option? I'm weary of people saying that it's not in their nature to demand more of themselves."

It is something that has stuck with me to this day and I just love the way he puts it. If you do not demand excellence of yourself how can you possibly expect to achieve your goals in life. Ask yourself, is what I am doing right now getting me closer or farther from where I want to be?

If the answer is farther perhaps it is time to take another look at your actions or priorities.....

Cheers,

CB

Getting a message to Garcia

2005-12-22T16:59:00.000-08:00

In the late 1800s following the Spanish American war, one of the greatest articles in history was written by a fellow by the name of Elbert Hubbard. Even though it was written over 100 years ago the points made are still as poignant today. I particularly like one section where he states,

"when all the world has gone a-slumming 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

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 take 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 shall be granted; his kind is so rare that no employer can afford to let him go. 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, & needed badly- the man who can carry a message to Garcia."

In the world today, I think we are far to quick to pass successful people off as lucky. Instead of doing the wise thing and learning from their success and finding ways to make it our own.

These are my two cents on the day,

CB

Christmas Season-A time to sell

2005-12-20T00:06:00.000-08:00

With the holiday season upon us many people use this as an excuse to pack in the productivity and relax. I see it as just the opposite. Think of it as all of your competition has packed it in so you have the whole market to yourself.

The second thing I really like about the holidays is that it is a great time to re-connect with old aquaintances. If you have old clients you have not spoken to in a while why not give them a jingle and spread some christmas cheer. Everyone right now is in a talkative mood, so use it to build on your existing relationships and strengthen them to move forward.

A final piece of food for thought is that many companies have left over money in their budget that they can spend. If you are out there trying to sell you maybe able to get someone who has money to blow and you can shorten your sales cycle dramatically. You dont need to use the hard sell, just be your effervescent self and good things will happen.

Happy Holidays,

CB

Selling contagious emotion

2005-12-19T17:45:00.000-08:00

You know when we are trying to sell ourselves or our products, I always say look back to the times you have had the most success. I think what you will find is that success always comes in waves, for the simple reason that your Emotions Are Contagious.

The fact is that emotions are contagious. The more passion you have for your life and your activities, the more charisma you will possess, and the more cooperation you will gain from others. If you are truely excited about something and doing it with zest that will grab attention of others and make them want to be a part of it.

People always want to feel good and will be drawn to things that make them feel good. I want to use the example of personal training. I don't think there is anyone who could not make good use of a personal trainer but so few of us do. If you are in this business and want to be more successful, just raise the level of excitment in your gym. If the atmosphere is warm and welcoming it becomes a destination people want to go to.

We all have our favorite restaurants or bars, it is usually more the atmosphere in them than the food that draws us in. Use the possitive emotion to your advantage and people will be drawn to you.

Cheers,

CB

Sales-Its not about talking

2005-12-19T17:35:00.000-08:00

You know one thing that always makes me laugh is people who say they could never do sales, or those who say they don't like sales people because they do not like the feeling of being sold. We can all think of the sterotypical salesman in the cheap suit talking out of his @#$. If you ask me, these are not sales people.

I think the first lesson a true salesperson learns is that you are not trying to sell. Our job is to listen, uncover problems and then find a solution to those problems. The most common misconception about selling, is that sales means talking. A good sales person is first and foremost a good listener and a caring friend. If you can make this switch in your head you will immediately notice better results.

I do beleive the reason no one talks about "good salespeople" is because whenever a good sales person is found, they don't fit the mold of what a salesperson should look like so we mistake them for our friends.

Cheers,

CB

Personality types- Sumary

2005-12-15T19:48:00.000-08:00

Well there you have it, the four types have been defined in the simplest terms. However knowing the basic characteristics of the four is just the beggining of being able to understand them.

The thing that complicates understanding the most is the fact that no person is only one personality type. We all change from style to style depending on the situation we are confronted with. We will often reacte completely differently to a situation at work than we would if the same situation involved our friends or family.

The best advice I can give is to understand that everyone is going to be a little bit different and the best thing to do is get to know them and LISTEN. Listen to the things they say and how they are said and people will become much easier to understand.

These are my two cents on the evening,

Chuck

Personality types- Perfect Melancholy

2005-12-15T19:42:00.000-08:00

The final of the 4 personality styles is that which I like to refer to as the Perfect Melancholy. This is the person who is the analytical, the deep thinker or the planner. These are the people who seem to slow down the rest but take the time needed to create a masterpiece.

We see perfect melancholy people in all sorts of prominant roles such as artist, singers and accountants. They are often the back bone of the work place, making sure that the details are taken care of to keep things running smoothly. They take the time to ensure things are done right the first time and dont give up until the job is done.

The down side of the perfect melancholy is that they are very slow and deliberate in their actions and do not adapt well to sudden change. They are skeptical by nature and like to learn things for themselves as they don't trust the judgment of anyone very easily.

When we need it done right, or a long term plan put in place we always look to the perfect melancholy and we know the job will be in good hands.

Cheers,

CB

Personality types- Peaceful Phlegmatic

2005-12-08T00:14:00.000-08:00

The peaceful phlegmatic are often the least noticeable of the personality types. They are quite content to fly under the radar and not draw attention to themselves. Peaceful phlegmatic people are very calm cool and collected and quite happy to work their 9-5 shift and not bother anyone. Although they are pecimistic by nature they are not bothered by it.

Peaceful phlegmatic people make great long term employees, as they really have no desire for change and can work consistantly at mundane jobs that would drive the other personalities nuts. They are also very agreeable in that they have no desire to cause trouble.

The downside of peaceful phlegmatic is that they lack motivation and drive. They will rarely take any new initiative themselves and are not self motivated. They also are not likely to take a leadership role.

As a whole the peaceful phlegmatic types are a great addition to the work force as they are dependable long term and you always know what to expect.

Bon Appetite,

CB

Personality Types- Popular Sanguine

2005-12-08T00:02:00.000-08:00

The popular sanguine is the life of the party. If you know someone who is popular and dynamic odds are that person is a Popular Sanguine. These people are always willing to help and want to make sure everyone is happy. The end result is not nearly as important as the fact that everyone has a good time.

The downside to the popular sanguine is that they can sometimes inhibit productivity. They can sometimes get wrapped up in office gosip rather than getting important work done. Their currious nature can be both a possitive or a negative depending on how it is taken.

To me the single biggest strength a popular sanguine has is their ability to lighten the mood and help out someone who is feeling blue. The most important thing to remember when dealing with a popular sanguine is that relationships count for a lot, and they always find time for the fluff. Their bubbly outgoing nature is always welcome on a drab day.

Look to the popular sanguine, to keep up the spirits of people. These people make great additions to office life and are a welcome addition to any customer service or phone team.

Cheers,

CB

Personality Types-Powerful Choleric

2005-12-07T23:44:00.000-08:00

In dealing with personality types it is always easiest to understand the one you epitomize so I want to begin with Powerful Choleric. The three ways to describe this person are The extrovert, the Doer, the Optimist.

Powerful Cholerics are born leaders and very goal oriented in life. They always move quickly to action and adapt well to change. On the down side they can sometimes find it difficult to slow down or relax. They will often quickly get to the top of their field... but can sometimes find themselves alone at the top.

When dealing with a powerful choleric personality the best approach to take is to quickly get to the point. They do not care much about the story behind things or the fluff that goes along with it. If you want things done, or someone who can deal well in a stressful situation then a powerful choleric comes in handy.

Cheers,

CB

Personality types

2005-12-07T23:26:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite topics to study is that of personality types and personality profiling. I have found it to be invaluable in allowing me to get a read on the people I am speaking with as well as gaining introspection to myself. I am one of the unusual types who has one very overwhelming personality style. Most people are a close blend of a couple but I am firmly in one quadrant.

As entire books have been written on the subject of personality profiling, I am going to break this down into a series of articles so you will have to keep coming back :)... what a shame I know. One of the first lessons that I learned was that if you are not able to put yourself in the shoes of a person you are speaking with you are really only able to communicate with about 25% of the population. Or the group of people who share your personality style.

There are many names given to the personality styles, some prefer to give them colours. I use the names in which I first learned them from a book called Personality Plus by Florence Littauer. She calls them 1. Powerful Choleric 2. Perfect Melancholy 3. Peaceful Phlegmatic 4. Popular Sanguine.

Stay tuned and I will talk about the 4 types and how to best deal with each one.

Cheers,

CB

People- The forgotten part of Business

2005-12-07T23:08:00.000-08:00

Today I was reminded once again why it is that so many businesses have trouble. I was in a planning meeting at the Burnaby Board of Trade and we were discussing possible topics for our upcoming small business seminars. The meeting, as often happens, was draw away from new progressive ideas and taken in the direction of tired old business concepts that should have died with the 80s.

As our economy enters into a recession I feel so many companies are missing the point of building long term solid relationships. I beleive the companies who are too busy now to worry about relationships are the ones who are going to be "busy" in bankruptcy proceedings in the coming years.

I always find myself trying to convince people that it is not good ideas, not good marketing or good products that make or break companies. The key ingrediant in all successful companies is good people and good people skills. I want to steal a few lines from one of my favorite articles called "Getting a message to Garcia". When talking about this type of person Elbert Hubbard states

"Civilization is one long anxious search for just such individuals. Anything such a man asks shall be granted; his kind is so rare that no employer can afford to let him go. 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, & needed badly"

These are my thoughts on the subject.....

CB

Networking-You are not there to sell!!!

2005-12-06T14:45:00.000-08:00

With all of the networking functions that go on in a city like Vancouver, most business people will find themselves attending meetings from time to time. I would always recommend people attend them regularily, but that is not the topic of today. I think one of the challenges we face is that too often a networking event is seen as a group of potential customers we should be trying to sell to. This is far from the case and will get you nowhere in the fast lane.

A networking function is an opportunity to get to know someone a little bit and discover what he and his company does and has to offer. If you feel there is synergy with your new found friend by all means set an appointment at which you can begin the sales proccess. Do not, I repeat DO NOT, try and make a deal then and there. It is neither the time nor the place.

One of the biggest problems trying to "sell" at a networking event creates is that you miss the opportunity to get to know someone who is not part of your "target market". What is often overlooked is just because I may not be in your target market, it does not mean I don't know anyone who is. Some of the most well connected people I know don't show it. So take the time to establish rapport with everyone, you just never know who they might know. A solid long term relationship is worth way more than on one time deal.

These are just my two cents,

Cheers,

CB

New Role-Duocom

2005-12-06T14:39:00.000-08:00

In my ever expanding world of strategic partners and key connections I have taken on a new role with Duocom. I was approached by them to come on in an account managment/ relationship building role which I accepted. I am please to work with them and add more complimentary services to my network.

Having spent many years working in the world of Audio Video, Duocom is a natural fit for me and my endeavors. The world of office technology is changing quickly and there are so many great ways to communicate your message to both customers and co-workers, I am excited about the opportunity.

Cheers,

Chuck

'Embrace blogging' Harvard tells businesses

2005-12-02T01:47:00.000-08:00

But do it properly... or not at all

Businesses need to embrace the benefits that blogging can deliver, according to Harvard Business School. Though in some circles blogging has gotten a bad rap the US business school says companies should get online and start spreading the word.

In a Harvard Management Communication Letter, the school said blogs enable the brave few "to connect with customers online and advance corporate communications and marketing goals" and added that a well-written blog can boost a company's credibility. If you don't want to hear from your customers and critics in a public environment, don't blog.
In the case of crisis – far from being a PR disaster – a blog can enable companies "to shape the conversation about it",

Among those already embracing the trend are Boeing, General Motors, Google, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Sun and Yahoo!.

However, the business school suggests companies bear in mind a number of key points such as ensuring readers can comment so the blog remains open and interactive and doesn't appear a mouthpiece for the company. "Permit both positive and negative posts on your blog and reply to comments made on other blogs pertinent to your area of focus. Respond in a professional and businesslike way. If you don't want to hear from your customers and critics in a public environment, don't blog."

It also urges companies not to allow their PR department anywhere near their blog and put the marketing-speak thesaurus back on the shelf. A blog which is "genuine, conversational and engaging" and which "eschews corporate-speak" is far more effective, it states.
And most importantly, the article tells companies to make a commitment to update the blog regularly once they have told the world they are doing a blog.

This is excellent food for thought when trying to consider whether or not you should be blogging,

My two cents,

CB

Emulation-Who do I want to be like?

2005-12-01T10:11:00.000-08:00

You know one thing I am always surprised by is how willing people are to take bad advice from people they know. How many people do you know who missed an opportunity because they talked to their brother in law's uncle who thought it was a bad idea? When I look at someone who is offering me advice, I ask myself one simple question. Is the person I am speaking with credible on this subject? If I need advice on money, I am not going to talk to a middle age relative who is broke. A much better strategy is to talk to someone who has money and has been successful in getting it.

I think this is a very important lesson we all need to learn. Everyone needs to have role models in life, just make sure you choose them wisely. I am a firm beleiver in the psychological theory that you become who you associate with most of the time. If you want to be good at golf then hang around with people who are good golfers. If you want to have money, hang around with people who you want to emulate with money.

Everything we do and everyone we associate with is a choice, dont have that choice made for you. It is your life, make darn sure you choose wisely!

Cheers,

CB

BNI Vancouver: Elevator Speach

2005-12-01T10:01:00.000-08:00

One of the things many people have heard me talk about is the importance of knowing your audience. All to often we get so wrapped up in our thoughts, feelings and desires that we start asking the world "why arent you more like me"? What is often overlooked in my opinion is the fact that first of all there are 4 major personality types. ( I am not going to get into a discussion of what they are right now, I will leave that for a later post)

So what we need to realize is that even if every person of our personality type were like us (they are not, however) we would still only be getting our message to 25% of the population who share our thought patterns.

Instead of trying to get people to think more like you, try thinking more like the person you are speaking with. I know you will love the results you get once you begin to do this. For more on this topic take a look at my article on creating an elevator speach for an introduction.
BNI Vancouver: Elevator Speach

Cheers,

CB

RSS-Your own personal detective

2005-12-01T09:51:00.000-08:00

One of the thing that continues to amaze me the most is the search capacity of RSS feeds. I can be notified for instance everytime anything is written on the net using the words "Chuck Brady". I can have a constant search being run and the results delivered directly to my inbox with no work on my part and most importantly NO SPAM.

The ramifications of this are huge from an information standpoint. It allows you to always be updated on the topics of your choice. You can always be aware of what your competition is doing, stop any bad press while it is in its infancy or just track the results of your favorite sports team.

Just one of the many reasons why I love this new technology,

Cheers,

CB

Firefox-Updated Web Browser

2005-11-29T17:52:00.000-08:00

The new version of Firefox browser is now here. For those of you who are not amoung the converted Firefox is a great way to serf the internet and avoid a large number of bugs and viruses that are prevelant in IE. I have been using it for years and find it to be great.

There is a link to download the new version completly free on my side bar.

Bon Appetite,

CB

RSS for Outlook

2005-11-29T17:44:00.000-08:00

Are you an outlook user who wants to integrate your RSS feeds into it seemlessly? I have a solution for you that is both simple and free, it is a software program called Attensa. One of the coolest things is that not only can you subscribe to a particular blog such as this, but you can also subscribe to a key word search.

For instance if I wanted to see everytime someone created a blog that used the name Chuck Brady, well Attensa would tell me. This is great for anyone who wants to keep up with their competition. This is just another way this great new technology is allowing information to move quickly and effectively.

Happy blogging,

CB

Blogging-Accept the change

2005-11-29T17:09:00.000-08:00

You know I always find it funny that the same people who talk about how they should have taken advatage of past trends early, are the same ones who say "well I am going to wait and see what happens with this". Blogging is no different, with currently only about 5% of companies using blogs, now is the time to be jumping on board. I don't think that there is any secret that the companies who embrace blogs now are the ones who are going to receive the most long term benefit from using them.

The time really is now to buck up and accept that blogs are becoming the business norm. It will not be long before every business card has a blog URL on it and every email signature has the same. Learn how to use them to your advantage and you will be happy you did.

Remember, you heard it here first,

Cheers,

CB

You do have the time

2005-11-29T17:04:00.000-08:00

I am always amazed at the number of people who say to me Chuck, I don't have time for this. Or I dont have any time, I always respond the same way. It is not that you dont have time, each one of us has the same 24 hours in a day, it is what we choose to do with that time that matters.

I find though that these are the same people who find the time to spent 3 hours a night watching TV or waste time left right and center. I don't think it is a matter of lack of time, I see it as a matter of lack of clear goals or objectives. I think that once we know clearly what we want to do and achieve we always find time to do the important things that take us there.

Time and time it has been written about the importance of goals and I for one am a firm beleiver in this. How can you say you do not have time when you don't even know what you are trying to achieve?

My thoughts on the subject,

CB

RSS-What is it?

2005-11-28T19:33:00.000-08:00

I am being asked more and more what is RSS? There are currently two accepted interpretations of the intitials, they are Rich Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication. No matter which you use the purpose is for your information or blog entries to be distributed through the world wide web.

Every time a post is created on a blog a new feed is created. RSS programs search the web looking for these new feeds and send them to interested parties. For instance, if I was interested in the topic of RRSPs, I could program my RSS reader to find me every new post on the subject. After I have done this whenever someone writes a blog post containing the word RRSP, it will be instantly sent to me via my RSS reader without me having to search for it.

In business this is a very powerful tool, as it allows you to track whenever something is being said about your company or product. Wouldnt it be valuable to know immediatly anytime someone is spreading bad press about you? RSS allows you to do this and much much more.

Cheers,

CB

Blog Culture

2005-11-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

The business of blogging is creating a new culture for business owners and professionals. We are entering a realm where customers want to get to know the intimate details of the people they are doing business with befor making that all important decision to buy a product or service.

When you are creating your business blog by all means appear human. Humans will make typos, have the occational bad gramatical error or use the wrong word. I am not saying you should lay caution to the wind and write the entire thing in slang. What I am saying is that you do not need to have an editor scrutinize every post for hours or weeks at a time before it gets posted. We are never going to be 100% perfect, but we should be 100% honest in our approach.

Our blogs are nothing more than an extention of our personalities, use this to your advantage. If you are funny, make your blog funny. We have created a paradigm shift in the market today so be aware of it.

Happy Blogging,

CB

Bridging the gap

2005-11-28T01:52:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to say that I have been able to put together the inaugural event, in an attempt to bridge the gap between east and west. This coming Friday in Vancouver, I am looking forward to an event with aproximately 100 business people from both Vancouver and China. We are trying to find ways in which our two business communities can work together more closely as we move towards a more global economy.

Working very closely with the Burnaby Board of Trade www.burnabyboardoftrade.com and Van Club www.vanclub.org, we have been able to get the event organized. It will be taking place on Friday December the 2nd 6:30 PM at ie Design, 180 W. 3rd Ave, Vancouver.

I am really looking forward to this event as I think it can be a springboard into future events and a closer working relationship with our friends from the east. I think I need to start learning to speak Mandarin and Cantonese, I think they are quickly becoming the languages of the world trade. But I digress, Friday should be great, everyone is welcome to attend.

Cheers,

CB

Access Strategy-What is it?

2005-11-28T01:00:00.000-08:00

I often get asked the question, "what is an Access Strategist"? Well the short answer is I provide business owners and sales people ACCESS to the people, resources and ideas that are required to take your business to the next level.

Access Strategy is the new wave of consulting, using things like blogs to help companies gain insites into the mind's of their customers. Though to me the most important part of Access Strategy is you, my loyal customers and friends. Every person that I work with is so very uniqe and needs access to something a little bit different. Together we gain access to the new ideas, new thoughts and create the paradigm shifts future generations will read about.

So really for me being an Access Strategist is nothing more than living and sharing dreams with people as we build lasting relationships for the future, so to each and every one of you who help make Access Strategy fun, I thank you.

Cheers,

Chuck

Blogs-The new corporate face

2005-11-28T00:37:00.000-08:00

In this world of big faceless corporations and company politics, I see companies struggling with the paradigm shift that is taking place in the blogosphere. Companies are so used to having press releases and web site content scrutinized by the accountants and lawyers before it is allowed to be viewed by Joe public. The blogging world has changed the rules and customs and the companies who are able to adapt to this the quickest will be the ones who see the most success.

I am a firm beleiver in the old adage when refering to customers, "they don't care how much you know untill they know how much you care". Blogs are the ideal way for companies to get rid of the faceless facade they like to hide behind and show the human side of business. I see time and time again in Vancouver how it is the businesses and business people who have the skills to relate to their customers who are having success.

We are very much living in a world where distrust is at an all time high. People want to buy products and do business with people they can trust. Companies that can get out from behind the desk and smile pretty or take constructive critism without resorting to company rhetoric are the ones who will be the market leaders moving forward. The best advice I can offer is blog as a person, not a company and talk like you are talking to a friend. I feel a little softer touch will go a long way to earning you that soft spot in the customer's heart.

These are my two cents,

Cheers,

CB

TOMA-Top of the Mind Awareness

2005-11-28T00:31:00.000-08:00

The goal of any marketing program is to achieve TOMA. This happens when consumers link your product or service with a particular key word. For instance when we think of a tissue we immediately think of the name Kleenex, and we often forget that Kleenex is not a generic product name, it is actually a brand of tissue. Kleenex has just done such a good job of creating TOMA with their product.

When creating a corporate blog one should always have TOMA in mind. It is a good idea to have a series of posts using a few keys words in which you would like to own in the minds of your customers. You will have much greater success with your blog if you focus on a few key areas and maximize your exposure. A corporate blog is an extention of a marketing campaign and should be treated as such.

Since the world of business blogging is still relatively new a company has the opportunity to be first in owning key words in the blogosphere and thus gaining a great competitive advatage. Know what you want to achieve TOMA with and you will be one step closer to success.

Cheers,

CB

RSS-The new email

2005-11-24T16:00:00.000-08:00

As blogs continue to explode onto the internet the importance of RSS or Atom feeds is becoming more and more refined. I could see these one day replacing a good portion of the emails we receive on a daily basis. The best feature of them is that you are receiving only content you want WITH NO SPAM, I mean how cool is this.

The most user friendly one I have found so far is RSS Reader www.rssreader.com. It allows you to subscribe to any number of blogs and have the great content delivered right to your desktop without having to go through the hassel of serfing for it. The readers will just ask you for a feed of each site you would like it to keep you abreast of. Mine is http://chuckbrady.blogspot.com/atom.xml .

As blogs continue to increase in popularity those who use RSS to their advantage will be the ones who are able to best reap the rewards. Now is the time to be one of those people who will be looked at 5 years from now when people say "boy were you lucky to get in when you did".

These are my two cents,

CB

Blogging: Bubble Or Big Deal?

2005-11-24T09:21:00.000-08:00

Here is another great article I came across, I think it provides some great insite to review.

"Although Weblogs (blogs) are currently used by only a small number of online consumers, they've garnered a great deal of corporate attention because their readers and writers are highly influential. Forrester believes that blogging will grow in importance, and at a minimum, companies should monitor blogs to learn what is being said about their products and services. Companies that plan to create their own public blogs should already feel comfortable having a close, two-way relationship with users. In this document we recommend best practices, including a blogging code of ethics, and metrics that will show the impact of blogs on business goals........"
For the entire article click here:
www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,35000,00.html

Bon Appetite,

CB

Corporate Blogs- Measure their value

2005-11-23T16:42:00.000-08:00

I found this great article about blogging from a business standpoint. It puts blogging into context and shows how you can include it into your budgeting.

Bon Appetite,

CB

www.clickz.com/experts/crm/actionable_analysis/article.php/3517546

BNI Vancouver

2005-11-23T16:22:00.000-08:00

I am please to announce that our BNI Terminal city club was officialy sanctioned today. It is my great pleasure to take on the role as president of the club. I have long thought BNI to be a great organization. With our proactive group of business people in our group we are excited about the future of our new chapter.

Vancouver's business community has always been close knit and I think that BNI is still grossly under-represented in our fair city. I like to consider myself as someone who is well networked and would welcome anyone looking to network in Vancouver to come as my guest to our chapter or to any of the other many events that I am associated with in the city.

Cheers,

CB

Blogging in Vancouver

2005-11-23T16:16:00.000-08:00

While looking around my fair city of Vancouver, one known for its high tech community I was surprised to see that not many of the companies here have adopted the idea of blogging for business. I think Vancovuer is a great city that has the ability to lead the world as far as getting its business community to come together and market the heck out of something. With the upcoming winter Olympics in 2010 Vancouver has all sorts of revenue potential for companies.

I really look forward to playing a strong role in helping the local companies understand and utilize the effect blogging can have for businesses. I would welcome any local people or companies to stand up and be heard on this subject, after all Vancouver is the best city in the world to live in.

Cheers,

CB

Blogging For Business

2005-11-23T11:08:00.000-08:00

Blogging For Business

A great resource I discovered for more information.

Cheers,

CB

Never miss another article!!

2005-11-22T18:10:00.000-08:00

Make sure you never miss another post with a free service offered by Bloglines http://www.bloglines.com/. This is a great service that allows you to track what is being posted on all of your favorite blogs; without having to visit a whole wack of sites. I have found it to be an incredibly useful tool for keeping track of what is going on.

Happy reading,

CB

Blogging for Business

2005-11-22T16:21:00.000-08:00

With the popularity of blogs on the up swing many business owners are asking the question as to how they can best take advantage of this emerging trend. One of the questions that come along with this trend is asking how can business owners keep from being a victim of the blog wars which have caused many companies headaches beyond belief.

A few things a company should be aware of are that bloggers are going to speak their mind regardless. You can not stop news from spreading through the blogsphere so just make sure there is positive news spreading with your company attached to it. Be proactive and be ahead of the growth curve.

It is also a good idea to monitor the content that is spreading through the blogsphere on a regular basis. There are many monitoring systems out there; you can find a great list of them at http://www.atomenabled.org/ . Finally make sure you are adding good content on a regular basis and blogs will become your new best friend.

These are just my two cents on the subject

Cheers,

CB

Defensiveness-Our inborn ability to waste time

2005-11-22T13:22:00.000-08:00

By our nature we as humans have a defense mechanism built into us for survival. We have the inborn desire to survive and will do whatever we feel we need to do. However this is often driven by emotion and not logic. Once we know this we can then begin to break down the barriers and find softer ways to approach problems. Always be focused on the solutions and not the problems.

When I used to manage for pizza hut I was always amazed at the reaction of my cooks when a customer who complain. Pizza Hut always had a very liberal customer service policy, if a customer felt there was something wrong with his pizza then our attitude was there is something wrong with his pizza so we would make him another one. It always astounded sometimes when I would ask a cook to do a remake. Often time they would stand there and argue with me for 5 minutes that there was nothing wrong with the first one. My response was always the same, “it doesn’t matter what the first one looked like just make another one and get back to work”. These cooks were not punished or reprimanded for these customer complaints; it didn’t affect their wages or shift lengths. It really had no effect on their life whatsoever despite the fact that they now had one more pizza to make. They would just stand their arguing with me about the initial quality and waste time. The come the end of the shift I would always get the same excuse if some of the important tasks were not completed. “Chuck I didn’t have time to get that done”, as I have always said we all have the same number of hours in the day, it is what we choose to do with them that matters.

CB

Busy vs. Productive Continued

2005-11-22T13:18:00.000-08:00

“Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing." Thomas Edison

In the years I have spent managing people it never ceased to amaze me the number of people who were keeping themselves busy at work and could never understand why their peers were surpassing them. I heard all sorts of complaints such as “I have been here longer than him”, “I work much harder than her” or “she is just lucky”. Many years ago I stopped wasting my breath trying to explain to these people that just because they were busy did not mean they were helping the company in any way shape or form.

Throughout my life I have often been called lucky or very successful for my age. This was because at a very young age I picked up on the idea that it wasn’t the people in the world that worked the hardest who were at the top, it was those who worked the smartest. If it were the hardest workers at the top of the financial food chain we would see countless millionaires from the manual labour pools. The truth of the matter though is that very few people who do labour for a lifetime will ever be near the top. They are usually the ones putting in 12 hour work days and living pay cheque to pay cheque. It is a sad but true reality of this crazy world we live in.

CB

Business Plans-My first experience

2005-11-22T13:16:00.001-08:00

I wrote my first business plan with my good friend Tim at the ripe age of 19 years old. Tim and I decided that we wanted to enter into the business of selling computers through the retail channel. We needed to raise some capital to start our business so we went about writing a business plan. Along the way to writing the business plan we elicited the help of many seasoned business people as well as many small business associations. The process caused me to read dozens of books, gathers thousands of pages of census and market data as well as do market studies.

After 6 months of 10 hour days we finally finished our business plan and our company vision had changed more than I could have ever imagined. About the only the consistent with our initial vision was that we would use computers and that there were to be the two of us as partners. We went from wanting to sell retail to working on call and in an office rather than a store. We changed our approach from selling product to selling services and solutions. Most of all we went from a concept that was going to cost us upwards of $100,000 (which we did not have) to something we could begin with a mere $5000 which we were able to raise.

What a difference 6 months and many lates nights can make,

Cheers,

CB

Business Plans-A guide to success

2005-11-22T13:16:00.000-08:00

This is an area that I think can be both over used and underused, sometimes at the exact same time. No business should operate without a business plan; however, it is critical to remember that business plans are not written in stone. They should be fluid and will evolve each and every day as your market changes, you become more experienced and different economist and environmental effects come into play.
One of the first important lessons to learn about planning is that even with the best laid plans, events will rarely go completely as expected. Just relax and accept this as the way of life. Make sure you are not so rigid in your thinking that you have to follow the plan to a T. The business plan is designed to be a guide.

Listening-The forgotten Skill

2005-11-22T13:13:00.001-08:00

I believe that listening is a skill that is very much under developed in our society. Often times what happens when someone is speaking to us even though we hear the words we are not actually listening. The human mind is capable of taking in over 500 words per minute but most of us use only a small fraction of that ability.

What often ends up happening is that when someone is speaking to us we immediately start to interpret what they are saying based on our ideas and the things we believe. When this happens we shape our opinions of that person based on our beliefs and the things we are thinking about and often miss what the other person is trying to tell us. This can be devastating if done in the sales process.

We as human beings have a deep down desire to be understood, when we feel that people do not understand us we shut down and become hostile or distant. Conversely, if we feel that someone cares about us and listens to what we have to say we become open with that person and begin to develop trust in them.

Know your Audience

2005-11-22T13:13:00.000-08:00

I can’t count the number of hours I have wasted in my sales career on customers who were more hassle than good before I learned the importance of knowing my audience. I am sure you know the type of person I am referring to. We have all had the experience of someone who will nickel and dime us on our most inexpensive product only to get it home then return it 2 days later. This is a key illustration on how important it is to know who your target market is. As business people and salesmen we should know inside and out what kind of customer we are looking for. We should be able to repeat this information in our sleep and recite it within 5 seconds of someone asking. This simple yet important process is lost on so many people.

FEAR- False Expecations Appearing Real

2005-11-22T13:11:00.000-08:00

Fear can be defined as an acronym: False Expectations Appearing Real. This happens when we do not make our choices wisely. We can however change this at any time by taking responsibility for our choices, learning from them and becoming better at making them.

Often times we will have a bad day in life, but what we must realize is that 80% of our problems are within ourselves. Outside factors can only impact us if we allow them to do so. Until you make a conscious decision to not be influenced by outside sources you will be destined to be ruled by your environment. As soon as you make this determination your life will instantly change for the better. It will be like a load of bricks has been lifted off your shoulders. You will become free of your shackles and can begin moving towards your goals and objectives.

Choices-or Lack there of

2005-11-22T13:08:00.000-08:00

Those in life who fear choices really are living what psychologist call a “self fulfilling prophecy.” The term "self fulfilling prophecy" was defined by the American sociologist William Isaac Thomas 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.

"Build Your Own Business" by Brian Tracy

2005-11-17T14:30:00.000-08:00

The high road to becoming a self-made millionaire in America is starting and building your own business. But this is not as easy as it sounds. Most businesses started by inexperienced people fail. Probably the primary reason why people don't start businesses is because they're afraid that they're going to lose their money and for good reason. 99 percent of businesses started by people lacking business experience fail within the first two or three years.

Why Business Fail And why is that?

It's because they don't know how. They haven't the slightest idea how to make a business successful. They may have an idea for a product or service, but they don't know all the things that they need to know to run a successful business.

Why Businesses Succeed However, surprisingly enough, 80 percent of businesses started by experienced businesspeople succeed.

Now why should this be so?
The reason is because experienced businesspeople know what to do. They know how to purchase their products and their services. They know how to negotiate with their suppliers. They know how to raise money. They know how to negotiate leases. They know how to sell and to market. They know how to manage their finances. In other words, experience is the key. In order to start your own business and succeed, you have to learn how.

Competence Makes The Difference Now according to Dunn and Bradstreet, 96 percent of businesses in America that fail, fail because of what is called "managerial incompetence". Managerial incompetence means that the people running the businesses don't know what they're doing. And here are the two critical areas of managerial incompetence that cause business failure. First is sales and marketing. 48 percent of businesses that fail in America fail because the business cannot sell enough of its products or services. Very few businesses fail when they have high levels of sales and revenues coming in.

Control Your Costs The second reason that businesses fail, 46 percent, is because of poor cost control. They may be selling enough on the front end, but they're losing so much on the back end that they go broke anyway. Sales and marketing, financing and cost control, both require experience. And if you're serious about becoming financially independent, you have to learn how to do both of these. Put Luck On Your Side You must learn the skills you need to be successful. Business success is not a matter of luck. Business success is a matter of application. It's a matter of ability. It's a matter of experience and skill and intelligence, and wonderfully enough, you can learn what you need to know to be successful. And you can start by learning through on-the-job training, which is called OJT.

Most successful businesspeople become successful because they get all their training by working for someone else.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to make sure that your business succeeds greatly:

First, take the time to get the knowledge and experience you need in business by working for someone else where you can learn a lot in a short period of time. Go to work in an area in which you are interested and learn everything you possibly can.

Second, read and study in business, especially entrepreneurial business, all the time. Read one or two business books per week and read every business magazine that is published on your subject. Never stop learning and growing.

Busy vs. Productive

2005-11-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

"Inevitably in life we all come to the crossroad where we find ourselves saying “I don’t have time for this”. It is not that we do not have the time, as each one of us has the same 24 hours in a day. It is what we choose to do with that time that makes all the differences in the world. Have you ever stopped to wonder how some people seem to find all the time in the world to do the things they love while most people are stuck in their dead end rut we like to call a job.

Well I am here to tell you it is nothing more than the choices these people differently than us that make them who they are. You can change your behavior to become one of them by simply making better decisions."

I am curious as to whether or not business people see this as an important issue facing them. I would welcome feedback on how you feel your time is managed and what areas you would be interested in receiving help on.

Cheers,

CB

Eye opening

2005-11-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

Often times we will have a bad day in life, but what we must realize is that 80% of our problems are within ourselves. Outside factors can only impact us if we allow them to do so. Until you make a conscious decision to not be influenced by outside sources you will be destined to be ruled by your environment. As soon as you make this determination your life will instantly change for the better. It will be like a load of bricks has been lifted off your shoulders. You will become free of your shackles and can begin moving towards your goals and objectives.