This is a sad story to be starting the year with

This is a sad story to be starting the year with but so many of us have many poor mindsets that are none supportive and we seriously need to do a mental garbage dump run to clear the crap and all these misguided thoughts and ideas.

In my last rant talked about “your thoughts and your focus being weak and scattered, and as a result your outcome will be all over the place too!

And judging by the feedback I have had it is worth a big mention again! The CLEARER the picture you have, the more SPECIFIC you are with both the vision you have and in the way you articulate your goals, the more exact will be your outcome. Did you spend the time needed to picture your future?

But let me get to the point of this Rant …

One of the authors I spend some time reading [...] Continue Reading…

The inference is that it would be foolish to…

We all have dreams but what defines a goal is simply that the dream now has a date attached.

The most common reason for business owners and their businesses to not reach their goals is NOT through a lack of desire but that they simply haven’t defined the goals clearly.

When setting any type of goals, Be SPECIFIC – if YOU don’t fill in the blanks, it will happen anyway; it just may not be the way you’d want!

I think what makes the whole concept of setting goals in the fashion we advocate so compelling to people, is that it requires you to FREE UP your
imagination, to have some serious FUN with it.

Most of the goal setting techniques I’ve heard about take a much more rigid view of how it’s done, for instance “make your goals achievable”. The inference is that it would be foolish to “wish” for something unless you [...] Continue Reading…

All care taken but we take no responsibility for any mistakes…

You can have a lot of fun and success when you tie into Holidays, Seasons and Celebrations.

Do be careful and plan well ahead.

Take the opportunity to look seriously at what other industries or businesses do around that holiday or seasonal event or celebration but don’t always assume that what they are doing is successful.

If nobody is doing anything it could be for one of two reasons;

• You’re first one to think of it… or
• it ain’t going to work for a reason you don’t know about yet.

Here is a handy list of national holidays, seasonal changes and celebrations that you should be giving some thought to when putting together your marketing calendar. And try to tie these events in to your marketing calendar.

It doesn’t have to be the big national celebrations, if there are local or regional events that are appropriate for you tie into – do so!

2010

Your Clients Birthday – [...] Continue Reading…

How to get a lot done fast

How to get a lot done fast or more importantly, how to get a lot of the RIGHT stuff done fast. You see there’s no success or failure in anything, whether it’s business, health or relationships. It all comes down to one inter-related factor: CHOICE and BEHAVIOUR. Here I’m going to reveal my BIG secret and my secrets to getting a lot of the RIGHT stuff done that produces the vast majority of my success in business.

Strangely it’s one of the most asked questions I get so here goes…

Firstly and more importantly I operate on a principal I call “10 Number Ones”. What this means is instead of trying to do a hundred things well, I isolate somewhere between 5 and 10 projects I work on simultaneously and treat all of them with the same level of urgency. There is no sequential order to the 10 Number Ones and this is important. All the rest of the hundred I summarily banish to the “Lesser Mortal” stuff. In other words it’s not worth me personally dealing with it and more often than not, not worth anybody dealing with, for that matter.

You see it’s my experience that when you visit this “Lesser Mortal” pile of stuff that would suck up your time and energy, some months later you’ll find it took care of itself and was never really worthy of your attention. How do I identify what constitutes a “10 Number One” is that in some way it will or has the potential to contribute greatly to my end result. No surprises it comes down to beginning with the end in mind. If you don’t have a clear picture of what the end looks like, it’s unlikely you’ll ever achieve it. Instead you’ll be constantly taken off course by what I refer to as the next shiny object.

In any event, here’s the rest of my list in no particular order, which may serve you also:

[...] Continue Reading…

A strategy so good, it may send you broke…

OK Mal.. Show me the money… I’m often asked that question and I’ve become a legend in my own lunch box for doing just that to more people than most can lay claim. Maybe you’re one of them or maybe you’re in transit? This strategy is so good that if you apply it the way I’m going to describe it, it may very well send you broke. Or better still, monstrously rich…

I’m visiting one of my favourite parts of the world and it happens to be right here in Perth. It’s called "Spring in the Valley". There are some of the best wineries and restaurants within a stone’s throw of the Perth CBD. You can even get Margaret River Chocolates and if your palate so desires, try some German Beer.

Now in amongst all of this, not far from the Margaret River Chocolates outlet, there’s a sign on the road that reads "COFFEE TASTINGS". Of course they’ve borrowed that term from the wine industry and to great effect.

The company is "Yahava KoffeeWorks" and they "source and enjoy access to small quantities of some of the world’s rarest and finest beans which they make available to their most discerning coffee enthusiasts."

They first opened down in the Margaret River region and now they’ve bought it to Perth in the Swan Valley.

What a perfect way for customers to try different roasts from around the world and guaranteed they’ll leave with something, even if it is just a take-away cappuccino.

That’s called going to the market and finding a new market for what’s already worked elsewhere or the cookie cutter process… systemise and duplicate. It’s how to make an ordinary business extraordinary.

[...] Continue Reading…

Well that upset a few…

I succeeded in getting a handful of complaints to my previous rant entitled “Does Mr Wonderful really exist?” Better still, I had many more positive responses, some of which are instructive to anyone that reads them and others just made my ‘jelly-belly’ wobble. Now believe it or not there’s a marketing lesson here.

Marketing Lesson Number 1:
If someone’s not complaining, if you don’t upset somebody by midday every day with your marketing message and efforts, it’s too wimpy and you haven’t pushed the boundaries, and in a sense tipped over those fence-sitters who would otherwise not spend money with you if you had. Bottom line, most people never find out how much hidden money they never get to bank because they never pushed this envelope.

Marketing Lesson Number 2:
Those you did upset were highly unlikely to become paying clients in any event and if anything, this is a good way to thin the herd and resonate “message to market match” with only those who would keenly seek you out for your product or service. After all, less is more and I’d rather not waste my time, energy and money trying to convert anybody. In other words this is a way to shake the tree and find out who is the right person (prospect) at the right time receiving the right information.
[...] Continue Reading…

Does Mr Wonderful really exist?

Don’t read this post if you’re easily offended! However if you enjoy a laugh and don’t take things too seriously you’ll probably get a giggle out of it.

There’s a bench seat in Leura in the Blue mountains of NSW.  It’s uniquely and deliberately placed outside a clothing business and attached to the seat is a sign which reads “Seat For Bored Husbands”.  Taking care of the non-shopper in the family (men) is wise council.  After all, as a male myself, my idea of fun is certainly not shopping.

I still don’t understand how women can leave home in the morning and return home five hours later with nothing or just one or two things.  I think the seat’s got my name on it.  They’ve really got into the psyche of us men.

All this reminds me of a battery operated foot-high (300mm) figure of a man I once bought my wife.  [...] Continue Reading…