James was a little boy, who was born into a house of poverty. His parents loved him, but couldn't give him the things the material things he desired in his young life. While all of James' friends had new clothes, James had to wear old, out of style, hand-me-downs from his older cousins. He shared a bedroom with his younger sister in a two bedroom house. The house wasn't really a house but it was what James' parents could afford to make sure the children had a roof over their heads.
James wanted to be rich. His parents taught him that money wasn't everything. He knew they were right but he decided that money could definitely help get him out of his poor situation.
James was a good student. He studied people. He listened in class. And he could memorize entire paragraphs in any book. He was such a good student, that wealthy people invited him to study with their children. At his new school, he learned that rich people's definition of hard work was much different than his parent's definition.
His parents worked hard with their bodies. Rich people worked hard with their brains. James' desire for riches continued through his education. Then one day, with his schooling complete, he was forced back into the working world. His parents told him to work hard with his hands. His childhood friends told him to play hard. His rich friends from school no longer had time for him as they went off to work with their rich parents. James felt alone.
But he made a decision. He was not going to give up until he achieved what he wanted. From his rich friends, he had learned that the best way to make money was by using other people's money. That was good news because James didn't have any. He then convinced a couple of bankers that he was capable to run a business of his own. With money in hand, he opened his business.
He had a dream. Nothing was going to get in his way. For the next 10 years, James worked 7 days a week. When his poor friends drank on the weekends, James worked. When his rich friends vacationed in sunny warmer climates, James worked. When family got together to celebrate weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, James worked. When employees took time off and enjoyed their life, James worked. He worked and worked and worked. Some started calling him a workaholic. Some thought he was crazy.
There were days James thought he was crazy. He was doing exactly what his parents told him to do. He was working with his body, not his brain. He had a goal so he continued.
After 10 years, James didn't have much of a lifestyle. His style of life was work. And work is all he did. On his tenth anniversary, he sold his businesses and bought a huge house in the country. He stopped working with his hands and started working with his brilliant brain. From the outside, James was retired. If you knew him, he was knew he had shifted to working with his brain. His poor friends who were drinking every weekend, told him he was lucky coming from such a poor background. His family informed him he was now rich.
James simply answered, "In my mind I was always rich".
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Here's how to be a goal scorer in the game of life.
I've discovered a new method to help people focus on and achieve their goals.
The biggest problems with goals are:
The biggest problems with goals are:
- People don't have any
- People don't have a clear vision of where they want to go.
- No definiteness of purpose
- Lack of commitment causes inaction
- Not SMART goals
It took me four years to figure out how to set clearly defined, actionable goals.
It starts with a clear vision of where you want to go. To get started, write on a piece of paper answers to the following questions.
Why do you think you exist?
What do you currently do that you love?
What do you currently do that you would like to eliminate?
What do you stand for?
What do stand against?
Imagine the world and your life as perfect in five years.
Describe your perfection in detail..
Why is it perfect?
How much are you working?
If so, what's the perfect job?
What are you doing when you're not working?
How much money are you making?
Describe your relationships with your spouse, children, parents and friends in this perfect world?
What needs to be implemented into your life for this "dream" to be realized?
How do you have to change personally?
Annual goals
What can you do this year to move your life toward this vision of perfection?
In what ways do you need to change this year to move towards this vision of perfection?
Now that you've created a vision of your perfect life, you sleep on your answers.
The next morning, without reviewing your answers from the previous day, you brainstorm all the things that signifies a perfect life for you in five years. Fill up the page. Write until you can't think of anything else.
Once you put your brain back into the rhythm of a perfect life, it's time to write out five big goals that you want to achieve this year. The goals have to specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely (SMART). Each time you write a goal, double check that it fits the SMART criteria. If not, restructure the words so that it can be SMART.
Detailing five annual goals, you then will break them out into chewable smaller goals for the first three months. What do you have to achieve in the next 90 days to move toward your annual goal?
The reason most people don't have clear written goals is because they don't know where to be begin. To know where to begin, you have to think with the end in mind. Knowing where you want to go will give you definiteness. Accepting definiteness and not getting distracted is the magic in the attainment of all goals.
I wish you all success.
Small minds talk about people
I think there's a part of human nature to want to talk about someone else.
Let's face it. Talking about someone is easy. Having an opinion about someone's actions is even easier. We have experience with that person. Hence we can share our feelings, opinions, events of our relationship.
People mess up. We don't expect perfection from ourselves yet we expect it from others. We want them to act a certain way and when they don't, we use our tongues like poisonous needles piercing the ears of anyone who will listen to our strife.
To quote Eleanor Roosevelt, "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."
Don Miguel Ruiz's book "The Four Agreements" discusses why humans live a hellish life on this planet and what needs to be done to transcend the dream-like state humans are in to enter a life of bliss.
His four agreements are broken down into the following:
Let's face it. Talking about someone is easy. Having an opinion about someone's actions is even easier. We have experience with that person. Hence we can share our feelings, opinions, events of our relationship.
People mess up. We don't expect perfection from ourselves yet we expect it from others. We want them to act a certain way and when they don't, we use our tongues like poisonous needles piercing the ears of anyone who will listen to our strife.
To quote Eleanor Roosevelt, "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."
Don Miguel Ruiz's book "The Four Agreements" discusses why humans live a hellish life on this planet and what needs to be done to transcend the dream-like state humans are in to enter a life of bliss.
His four agreements are broken down into the following:
- Be impeccable with your word.
- Don't take anything personally.
- Don't make assumptions.
- Always do your best.
His first agreement is what is being discussed. It is not only what you say to other people, but also to yourself. Negative self-talk, talking about other people, other's actions, problems keeps us in a state of paralysis.
In finishing the book this weekend, it was easy to pay attention to my discussion with colleagues. It is disgusting how much my peeps and I avoid the first agreement.
I met a new client with similar background as mine. We travelled the same circles, knew the same people but we had never met. It was easy to establish a rapport. Within five minutes, with both of our guards down, he confessed that his business was suffering. He explained what were the reasons for the decline. Then he gossiped for the next 45 minutes and spoke poorly about a number of people in our same industry.
Conversely, I spent 2 days with a group of people last week discussing visions, ideas, goals, and strategy. At the end of the "retreat", each of them had specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely goals.
The time spent with the group was intense. Each of us left the sessions with a fresh outlook on our business lives.
Ruiz says that we have to be conscious of our acts before we can correct them.
Try this exercise for the next week. After every conversation, write down in a notebook any times you were not impeccable with your word. Then detail it out and write what you can do different next time.
You can't fix it if you can't measure it. Measure how often you revert to small thinking. Then work toward reducing it each and every week.
It'll be hard. Anything worth it is always hard.
.
Friday, January 30, 2015
Marketing starts from the inside and works itself out
A client recently declared that he had a marketing problem. Asking a few questions, what he meant to say is that he had an advertising problem. His sales were steady over two years, but his costs were rising. His margins were shrinking. He wanted me to come up with a fancy, quick fix equal to a shot of morphine that could make the pain go away.
Marketing is simple but unfortunately not easy. The heavy lifting to turn a company around is usually more complicated than getting more customers. More customers translates to less customers in the long run if the business under delivers on its promises.
Marketing is just a promise.
The unfortunate thing about our client was that his margins were shrinking due to improper cost controls. His business was stagnate because of a lack of systems and controls on product and service standards. An inconsistent product made the company a liar in its past promises.
The client wanted us to show him how to increase his sales by 30%. Instead we told him he had to plug the holes in the bucket before he went after more customers. We guaranteed a fix but it wasn't what he wanted to hear. He got his morphine from someone else.
And that's ok. For us to help a patient, we need the patient to recognize our expertise.
Marketing starts at the top of any organization. The leader's relationship with the whole team will allow for a collaborative, team-oriented approach or insular, everyone-for-himself mentality. The leader needs to build systems that the team can experience personal and financial growth.
An environment where everyone feels they have an opportunity to voice their opinions makes it family like. Motivation, morale, happiness and profits exist here.
You don't have to do this. The alternative is cranky, unmotivated, backstabbers in which absenteeism, and productivity is always an issue.
We all want profits in our business.
There's a simple solution. It doesn't start with more customers.
Leadership and vision finds, trains and motivates happy employees. Happy employees serve customers who eventually become loyal. Following Pareto's Law, 20% of customers generate 80% of the profits.
Increasing profits starts with the leadership and vision. It's not an outside problem. Lack of profits is usually an internal problem. Before you spend too much money on advertising, fix the internal stuff and revenues will start to shift. Once the problems are fixed, advertising can then be used. Otherwise, increased profits will take time because word of mouth is the slowest form of advertising.
So if you have money to spend on advertising, spend it first by fixing the inside of your business.
Advertising only speeds up the inevitable. A sucky company goes out of business faster with an increase in advertising budget.
Value versus Price
What's it worth to you?
Isn't that the definition of value?
The question that gets asked is, "What's it going to cost"?
That's the wrong question.
So much emphasis is placed on price these days. I tell clients that price, on the most part, does not matter. When we think about pricing a product for sale, the only question that needs to be answered is what is it worth to someone else.
Most entrepreneurs try to compete in the marketplace with a reduced price. Being a low cost provider is a poor strategy for most businesses. Notable exception being Walmart.
You're probably not going to be a Walmart type business in your category any time soon. So don't be the cheapest in your category.
Here's why.
1. Price is the easiest thing to copy and improve on. Competitors pay attention to others pricing strategies to copy them or beat them if they perceive a loss in market share. This is called a race to the bottom in which there will only be one business standing when it's over. And the one standing will be the one who is the most financially secure at the start of the process.
2. If the product or brand does not have qualitative differentiation in the marketplace, the product is dangerously promoted as a commodity. In the commodity marketplace, the only thing that matters is price. Whoever is cheapest wins the customer's business. It is not a sound strategy to have customers who don't care about a company. Customers who switch to competitors the minute prices are lowered are not good, nor loyal customers.
3. When the commodity game is played, loyalty is non-existent. Margins are miniscule as the entrepreneur lowers prices to remain competitive. If margins are halved, entrepreneurs have to work twice as hard to get reasonable profits. Working much harder in a low price environment with less financial rewards seems ridiculous. For example, would you rather sell a cup of coffee for 50 cents or for $5.00? There will be less customers if coffee is sold for $5.00. But at an average cost of 10 cents, profit is $4.90 for every cup sold versus 40 cents in the former option. At 50 cent coffee, 12 coffees have to be sold to every one at the $5.00 option. Don't question the expensive coffee as an entrepreneur. Ask what value has to be given to get the customer to believe that $5.00 coffee is worth the purchase.
My wife is a sales shopper. Her favourite stores have trained her to wait for the special. She no longer believes the list price is the worth the value of the item based on periodic sales promotions. There are many like her who wait for the product to be discounted before they buy.
Discounting is an excellent way to encourage people to buy. If you're trying to move old stock, perishables, or discontinued items, discounting can be a great way to get it sold. Discounting is also the lowest form of marketing. It works. Discounting strategies bring customers in to buy. But at what price? If used incorrectly, customers will quickly learn that the value is less than the list price and wait for the discount, thus slashing your expected annual returns for short term profits.
Good entrepreneurs are long term growth visionaries not short term profit oriented junkies.
XYZ cement company was trying to figure out how to charge more for their bags of cement, when all the competitors were selling it around $5.00 per bag. The product was a commodity. Everyone knew it. With no competitive advantage, the braintrust of XYZ increased the price of their cement to $1000 a bag. At that price no one would truly buy their cement if the value in customer's mindset didn't increase. So XYZ increased the value proposition by including architect consulting, access to an engineer usage of computer drawings to aid in the design of the structure. Every bag XYZ sold was equal to 200 bags from their competitors. They became the leader in their area. They were extremely profitable and demolished two competitors in the process.
Value is the only thing that matters when pricing your product. He who provides more value to a customer will be positioned to thrive.
Isn't that the definition of value?
The question that gets asked is, "What's it going to cost"?
That's the wrong question.
So much emphasis is placed on price these days. I tell clients that price, on the most part, does not matter. When we think about pricing a product for sale, the only question that needs to be answered is what is it worth to someone else.
Most entrepreneurs try to compete in the marketplace with a reduced price. Being a low cost provider is a poor strategy for most businesses. Notable exception being Walmart.
You're probably not going to be a Walmart type business in your category any time soon. So don't be the cheapest in your category.
Here's why.
1. Price is the easiest thing to copy and improve on. Competitors pay attention to others pricing strategies to copy them or beat them if they perceive a loss in market share. This is called a race to the bottom in which there will only be one business standing when it's over. And the one standing will be the one who is the most financially secure at the start of the process.
2. If the product or brand does not have qualitative differentiation in the marketplace, the product is dangerously promoted as a commodity. In the commodity marketplace, the only thing that matters is price. Whoever is cheapest wins the customer's business. It is not a sound strategy to have customers who don't care about a company. Customers who switch to competitors the minute prices are lowered are not good, nor loyal customers.
3. When the commodity game is played, loyalty is non-existent. Margins are miniscule as the entrepreneur lowers prices to remain competitive. If margins are halved, entrepreneurs have to work twice as hard to get reasonable profits. Working much harder in a low price environment with less financial rewards seems ridiculous. For example, would you rather sell a cup of coffee for 50 cents or for $5.00? There will be less customers if coffee is sold for $5.00. But at an average cost of 10 cents, profit is $4.90 for every cup sold versus 40 cents in the former option. At 50 cent coffee, 12 coffees have to be sold to every one at the $5.00 option. Don't question the expensive coffee as an entrepreneur. Ask what value has to be given to get the customer to believe that $5.00 coffee is worth the purchase.
My wife is a sales shopper. Her favourite stores have trained her to wait for the special. She no longer believes the list price is the worth the value of the item based on periodic sales promotions. There are many like her who wait for the product to be discounted before they buy.
Discounting is an excellent way to encourage people to buy. If you're trying to move old stock, perishables, or discontinued items, discounting can be a great way to get it sold. Discounting is also the lowest form of marketing. It works. Discounting strategies bring customers in to buy. But at what price? If used incorrectly, customers will quickly learn that the value is less than the list price and wait for the discount, thus slashing your expected annual returns for short term profits.
Good entrepreneurs are long term growth visionaries not short term profit oriented junkies.
XYZ cement company was trying to figure out how to charge more for their bags of cement, when all the competitors were selling it around $5.00 per bag. The product was a commodity. Everyone knew it. With no competitive advantage, the braintrust of XYZ increased the price of their cement to $1000 a bag. At that price no one would truly buy their cement if the value in customer's mindset didn't increase. So XYZ increased the value proposition by including architect consulting, access to an engineer usage of computer drawings to aid in the design of the structure. Every bag XYZ sold was equal to 200 bags from their competitors. They became the leader in their area. They were extremely profitable and demolished two competitors in the process.
Value is the only thing that matters when pricing your product. He who provides more value to a customer will be positioned to thrive.
Learning from cribbage
Grandma and dad used to have daily crib games. The games were epic with pulsating voices coming from the kitchen when someone had a great hand. "Hot digitity", "Oh boy", "Sonofabitch", "Yee-haw" were a few I remember. There were others I'm sure.
I learned the game of crib from them. I watched them, counted the cards, looked for the patterns, and learned what to throw away and what cards to keep.
Dad took me under his wing and taught me all of the rules of crib over a few weeks. He regularly beat me as he showed what I could've played versus what I had played. He got all the good cards. I knew he liked to cheat, so I was sure he was dealing the cards crooked. But he got the right cards when I dealt too.
He shared a secret about crib that I never witnessed in those games with Gramma. No one ever talked about this secret. I don't know if Gramma knew the secret skill my dad had. He showed me how to do it making me promise not to share it with anyone else.
Before Grandma died, I danced a few rounds of crib with her. She never beat me. She used to curse like a sailor when I vanquished her.
She could beat my dad, but she never triumphed over me.
Thinking back, it started when I was a youngin' of 6 years old. Gramma would flip the cards upside down and we would play Memory. Looking for matching cards, the winner would be declared with he who had matched more pairs. My brain was young, uninhibited, free of pain, drugs, alcohol and stress. I never knew Gramma Grace to drink. But her downfall was a chain-smoking addiction to menthol cigarettes.
That was the only advantage I needed as a child.
As an adolescent, I didn't have that same competitive advantage as alcohol exposed me to a new world of enlightenment.
I was 14 when I started playing crib. To beat Gramma required a new competitive advantage. I had to cheat. Dad passed down his secret in my trust. And it worked. Gramma stopped playing crib as she got sicker and later bed ridden.
My dad's secret is not much of a secret anymore. A book and a movie came out 8 years ago exposing it.
Dad applied the Laws of Attraction to his cribbage game. He taught the rules of visualization to me.
Never once did I think this skill was transferrable to other areas of my life until I saw the "Secret" movie.
Gramma used to say I had a horseshoe up my ass. Luck had nothing to do with it. I wanted that card, visualized it, asked for it and was always giddy in thanks when it turned up.
We can cheat the game of life the same way dad and I cheated at crib. It's quite easy.
I learned the game of crib from them. I watched them, counted the cards, looked for the patterns, and learned what to throw away and what cards to keep.
Dad took me under his wing and taught me all of the rules of crib over a few weeks. He regularly beat me as he showed what I could've played versus what I had played. He got all the good cards. I knew he liked to cheat, so I was sure he was dealing the cards crooked. But he got the right cards when I dealt too.
He shared a secret about crib that I never witnessed in those games with Gramma. No one ever talked about this secret. I don't know if Gramma knew the secret skill my dad had. He showed me how to do it making me promise not to share it with anyone else.
Before Grandma died, I danced a few rounds of crib with her. She never beat me. She used to curse like a sailor when I vanquished her.
She could beat my dad, but she never triumphed over me.
Thinking back, it started when I was a youngin' of 6 years old. Gramma would flip the cards upside down and we would play Memory. Looking for matching cards, the winner would be declared with he who had matched more pairs. My brain was young, uninhibited, free of pain, drugs, alcohol and stress. I never knew Gramma Grace to drink. But her downfall was a chain-smoking addiction to menthol cigarettes.
That was the only advantage I needed as a child.
As an adolescent, I didn't have that same competitive advantage as alcohol exposed me to a new world of enlightenment.
I was 14 when I started playing crib. To beat Gramma required a new competitive advantage. I had to cheat. Dad passed down his secret in my trust. And it worked. Gramma stopped playing crib as she got sicker and later bed ridden.
My dad's secret is not much of a secret anymore. A book and a movie came out 8 years ago exposing it.
Dad applied the Laws of Attraction to his cribbage game. He taught the rules of visualization to me.
Never once did I think this skill was transferrable to other areas of my life until I saw the "Secret" movie.
Gramma used to say I had a horseshoe up my ass. Luck had nothing to do with it. I wanted that card, visualized it, asked for it and was always giddy in thanks when it turned up.
We can cheat the game of life the same way dad and I cheated at crib. It's quite easy.
Questioning authority
I'm a product of the public school system. My kids are now being produced by the same system that created me and countless others like me.
On the way to school this morning, my daughter told me that she dared not question the rules at school. Some rules like respecting others, being polite and not yelling, running, swearing or disrupting others are regulations that show mutual respect for others. I accept these rules. And so should my children.
But there are other rules that have no bearing on respect. These rules are arbitrarily assigned by a person in authority because they can. The adult in me says these rules are ridiculous. Luckily I'm not a student at this school. As the parent, I must coach my children to think inquisitively.
My daughter is a unique little girl that questions all of my rules. What stops her from questioning her teachers? Does she accept all things said in the classroom? Is she thinking for herself or has she become a drone accepting all information as fact in school?
She worries about questioning the teacher about a banal rule for fear of making the teacher mad.
"Who are you more afraid of upsetting, me or your teacher?". She confirms that I am her biggest fear.
"Who has more power, me or your teacher?". She again answers that I have more perceived power.
"Why don't you question things you don't understand?". She answers that understanding the rules is not as important as obeying them in school
She's nine years old.
Everything she does not understand has to be questioned as long as she does it in a polite, courteous manner that does not disrespect the adult. Poor girl does't know that questions are the key to learning.
That's my fault. I take 100% responsibility for her un-inquisitive mind. Teachers beware. My child is being prepared for the world. She needs to question rules, why they exist, what would happen if they didn't exist, who made up the rule, how can the rule be changed and when will it all happen.
We've been taught to accept the rules, don't question them and just keep moving on as if we do understand them. It reminds me of the scene in "The Time Machine" by HG Wells. The Eloi in the book are future descendants of humans in the year 802701. They are fed and treated like livestock for the Morlocks to feed on. Morlocks live underground and rule the planet. The Eloi don't question anything. They just live in a paradise like place with food, drink and pleasure. Only to be eaten before they get too old and tough.
The fate of the Eloi is to be eaten. Is that what we want for our children?
On the way to school this morning, my daughter told me that she dared not question the rules at school. Some rules like respecting others, being polite and not yelling, running, swearing or disrupting others are regulations that show mutual respect for others. I accept these rules. And so should my children.
But there are other rules that have no bearing on respect. These rules are arbitrarily assigned by a person in authority because they can. The adult in me says these rules are ridiculous. Luckily I'm not a student at this school. As the parent, I must coach my children to think inquisitively.
My daughter is a unique little girl that questions all of my rules. What stops her from questioning her teachers? Does she accept all things said in the classroom? Is she thinking for herself or has she become a drone accepting all information as fact in school?
She worries about questioning the teacher about a banal rule for fear of making the teacher mad.
"Who are you more afraid of upsetting, me or your teacher?". She confirms that I am her biggest fear.
"Who has more power, me or your teacher?". She again answers that I have more perceived power.
"Why don't you question things you don't understand?". She answers that understanding the rules is not as important as obeying them in school
She's nine years old.
Everything she does not understand has to be questioned as long as she does it in a polite, courteous manner that does not disrespect the adult. Poor girl does't know that questions are the key to learning.
That's my fault. I take 100% responsibility for her un-inquisitive mind. Teachers beware. My child is being prepared for the world. She needs to question rules, why they exist, what would happen if they didn't exist, who made up the rule, how can the rule be changed and when will it all happen.
We've been taught to accept the rules, don't question them and just keep moving on as if we do understand them. It reminds me of the scene in "The Time Machine" by HG Wells. The Eloi in the book are future descendants of humans in the year 802701. They are fed and treated like livestock for the Morlocks to feed on. Morlocks live underground and rule the planet. The Eloi don't question anything. They just live in a paradise like place with food, drink and pleasure. Only to be eaten before they get too old and tough.
The fate of the Eloi is to be eaten. Is that what we want for our children?
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