Colour Can Be A Powerful Thing

 

We’re Talking About The Difference Between Bright Bold And Vivid And The Subtleties Of All The Other Various Shades Of That Same Colour

I hadn’t thought much about the subtleties various colours meant until my statistics professor (also a renowned expert on colour and human emotions) told us a story about the colours he had chosen for the phone companies new phone launch and how the phone executive in charge had totally ignored the exact colour match and had gone out and ordered the cheapest red, green, blue etc. plastic parts he could find. Then he couldn’t understand why sales were so awful. Probably like me before I heard this story, That executive had no clue about the meaning of colours.

I hope this article will begin to bring that colourful meaning to light for you.

 

Have you ever noticed how colours make you feel?  You may be drawn more to one colour than another.  That is because colours stimulate the brain in different ways and elicit specific emotions.  Advertisers know this all too well and have been using the psychology of colour to their advantage for decades.

Although colour is one of the most powerful methods of advertising, it is important to note that the effects are not entirely universal.  Colours that elicit certain emotions of a consumer in western cultures will not have the same effects on a consumer in India or Asia due to the symbolism of the colour.   Let’s look at the colour RED as a prime example.  In western cultures such as America, UK, Australia and South Africa, the colour red is used to ignite a sense of urgency, which is why it is seen to promote clearance sales.  Red stimulates appetite and is effectively use as such in restaurants. Red is a fire colour, it denotes passion, energy, danger and anger and is known to increase one’s heart rate.  In Chinese culture however, red has a completely different connotation.  Red symbolizes luck, vitality and long life and is believed to ward away evil.  Red is a traditionally symbolic colour of happiness and is used for festive occasions and weddings.   Using red ink is reserved only for use on official seals as the names of the dead were previously written in red.  In India, red is a symbol of purity, fertility, love, beauty, wealth, opulence and power.  Like the Chinese it is used in wedding ceremonies and is used by woman as a sign that they are married.

When new products are being marketed, one of the most fundamental elements to consider is that there are factors which influence a consumer: visual appearance and colour rank at a whopping 93%, whilst sound and smell registers at a measly 1% and texture comes in at 6%.   Research has shown that colour increases brand recognition by 80%.  If I was to say the word Coca Cola, the colour red instantly comes to mind.  It is interesting to note that over the course of the last few years Coca Cola have spent more than $3 Billion a year promoting a word so that every time you hear this word, our association with their product had a dual effect, thereby boosting their brand recognition.  So, what is this word?

It’s Happiness!

In 2013, Coca Cola released their 52 Songs of Happiness.  International Day of Happiness is on 20 March and for the 2014 FIFA World Cup™, Coca Cola released their Happiness Flag.

Consumers have cited colour as the primary reason why they buy a particular product and 52% of consumers don’t return items purely based on aesthetics.  It has also been proven that adverts seen in colour are read up to 42% more compared to the same advert in black and white.  Studies have concluded that people make a subconscious judgement about an environment or product within 90 seconds.  Between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on colour alone!  Colour can improve comprehension by 73%, learning by 55-68% and reading by as much as 40%.

The fantastic infographic below is courtesy of ufunk.net.  Here, the emotions elicited from each colour are clearly detailed together with information pertaining to marketing, branding and recognisable company logos associated with each colour.

Source for article and info graphic

Colour Can Be A Powerful Thing

Shocking Facts About Content Marketing

Do You Showcase Your Business Using Content Marketing?

If you’re an internet marketer you’ve heard the phrase than content is king. Today the content marketing is still in its infancy. And every day you see more and more people and companies exhibit their brand and message.

There are reasons we are seeing this trend towards more content marketing. These 10 facts may shock you into expanding your content marketing efforts.

1. Companies with an active blog generate 67 percent more leads per month

2. On average, content marketers are using 12 different tactics

3. About 86 percent of B2C companies use content marketing

4. B2B marketing teams spend 33 percent of their budget on content marketing

5. Social media sites and blogs reach eight out of 10 Internet users in the U.S.

6. Email is the most popular form of communication

7. Approximately 47 percent of B2B marketers regularly use LinkedIn

8. Nearly 87 percent of B2B companies use social media to distribute content

9. Companies that blog 15 times per month get five times more traffic than those that don’t

10. Only 44 percent of companies outsource their content marketing efforts

 

Conclusion

Content marketing isn’t just a fad; it has firmly established itself as a core facet of the marketing industry. Its seemingly sudden increase in popularity is due to its significant benefits to other disciplines of online marketing, such as SEO and social media marketing. Clearly, marketers have embraced content marketing and the statistics prove its value

You can read a full description of each of these shocking facts at the source website

 

Will You Be Doing More Content Marketing In The Future?

Shocking Facts About Content Marketing

Leadership Credibility Is So Important

Leaders With Credibility Have The Best Chance To Succeed

Without credibility who is going to follow you unless they are forced to.

 

So here’s an article about leadership credibility:

Without Leadership Credibility the team will lack belief in the leader, and possibly also themselves, and without belief your chances of success have dropped considerably.

When teams have belief in their leader it increases their belief in themselves, as they know that great leaders get the best out of individuals and also out of their teams, which creates a positive can do will do attitude which all teams need to raise their performance to the next level.

When teams, and individuals, have belief it allows them to push that little bit harder as they know their efforts will be rewarded, whereas teams that lack belief are the ones that will quit because they see their efforts as futile, and why put in extra effort if its just going to end in failure.

As the new football season approaches, just look at the difference in the Manchester United players and the way the talk about their excitement for the new season, how they are planning to put in extra effort to impress their new coach Louis Van Gaal, and compare this with last season when David Moyes took over. At that point the reaction was much more muted, the players comments were much more measured, almost prepared, they lacked the same spontaneity and you felt that the players lacked belief.

Moyes had been a good manager at Everton for over 10 years, but he lacked the credibility to take over at Manchester United – the most successful English club of the last 2 decades – as he had never ever won a trophy, and his playing career was not one that was likely to impress the players.

So right from the start Moyes was facing an uphill battle. His players lacked belief, and in sports even mores than in business, belief is the difference between a good season and a poor season.

We can create credibility when we join a new company, it’s not impossible. But we need to really focus on it, we need to show tremendous belief in ourselves, not arrogance, but more real conviction. Then we need to create a series of quick wins, achieve some early successes to help build the belief that we need for long term success. We also need to have a clear plan that the team can understand and believe too.  If the team lacks belief in the leader and also belief in the plan, then they are truly doomed.

And once that cycle sets in, then the teams will look to do whatever it can to help them get the leader they do believe in.  This is the point at which the players start to question the leader publicly, showing that they lack belief, this is a message to the senior management that they need to replace the leader.

At my own football team, Leeds United, I can honestly say that I am just waiting for our new manager to be sacked. We have taken a manager who was not only managing at a semi professional level, at least 3 divisions below where Leeds play, but also he had been unsuccessful, having been sacked after losing 7 of the first 8 games of the season. So not only does he lack the necessary experience – in my opinion – but what experience he does have was not very good either.

Time will tell whether he will do a good job, but if I were a player at Leeds I am not convinced that this manager would get the best out of me and the team.

This is why credibility is important, it puts us in a good position to succeed right from the start.

So if you want to be considered as a leader its good to start by building credibility… Source

 

Leaders Work On Their Credibility

Leadership Credibility Is So Important

Do You Know Which Social Media Platform Is Perfect For Your Business

Not All Social Media Platforms Are Going To Work For Your Business

You need to choose one which will give you the best results for the amount of effort you have to put into social media. The question is how do you choose the right social media site to put the most effort into?

Does your head spin when you think about social media marketing?  I’ll bet it does because if you try to use all the social media sites it can get complicated and time consuming.  There are so many social networking sites available: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+ and YouTube, and how about about Vine! How can you be expected to maintain a presence on these sites and still run your business?

The short answer is, you can’t. Not very well anyway! So here’s a recommendation for you. Focus on one social network first and master it before starting a presence on another site. But remember not every business is suited for every social networking site.

Here are a few key facts office retailer Staples has included in an infographic about how to choose which social media platform is right for your small business:

• 74% of shoppers rely on social networks to guide purchase decisions


• If you’re selling business to business solutions, LinkedIn should be your primary focus


• 75% of social media marketers reported increased traffic to their websites
  

 

Source

Do You Know Which Social Media Platform Is Perfect For Your Business

Starting A Home Business This Summer - Consider These 10 Essential Steps

You Can Make Your Entrepreneurial Dreams A Reality

There’s been no better time than now to start a work from home business. There are 10 essential steps you need ta take to start that work from home business. Whether you are trying to make a little money to pay the bills or you are going for your dream lifestyle, you need to put these 10 steps into practice today.

1. Decide the Value You Will Offer

Before you start a work from home business, you must decide what type of value you will offer to your paying customers. Will you offer a product or a service, or possibly both? Whatever that offering is, it should be valuable and you should be able to get started selling your products and/or services immediately; that is, if you hope to get your work from home business started sooner rather than later.

2. Identify Your Target Market

Whatever it is you plan to offer when you finally do start a work from home business, make sure there are people out there who would gladly pay for such a product/service. Social media makes this easy. Get on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or any others and start searching for like-minded customers. You may have to search your competitors to see what they’re offering, and how they most appeal to your target audience, to get the best ideas on how to proceed.

3. Packaging, Pricing and Delivery

Whether you’re selling widgets or window washing services, you must identify how you will package and deliver your products and/or services to your buying customers. This is essentially the marketing aspect, which also involves how to go out and find new customers once you actually start a business and get going.

Don’t be afraid to take a page out of your competitors’ marketing guides to copy and use what works. All the major work from home business players copy and tweak to excel online; you might as well do the same.

For example, if you are offering a product, come up with packaging, a pricing system your audience can comfortably afford and start planning the shipping services you will use so that you know which price-points to offer your customers.

If you are offering services, decide how you will communicate with clients, how you will be paid, how much to charge and how to deliver your service to the customer in a way that always has them coming back for more.

4. Decide On Your Customer Service Methods and Policies

Before you start a work from home business, decide how you will put out customer service fires whenever they happen and how you will communicate with customers after they’ve made a purchase; just in case they have any questions or concerns.

For instance, you may decide that, to set yourself apart, you’ll film a Thank You video to each customer after they make a purchase. You will then follow up with every customer within fifteen days with a coupon to help them save money on any follow-up purchases.

The lesson is that, when you start a business, you should always be focused on new customers, but you should never neglect the ones who have already bought from you. Return business is some of the best business there is.

5. Make To-Dos and Routine Schedules

*** Read More ***

 

Focus – You can make This A Reality

Starting A Home Business This Summer - Consider These 10 Essential Steps

Myths About Duplicate Content

Duplicate Content – It’s No Big Deal – 3 Common Myths Exposed

Think about it. All the TV news, radio news, news papers, they all rely on duplicate content. Non of these companies can afford a staff to do all original content. But they give credit where credit is due. The internet is no different. Curated content is everywhere. And the vast majority of original content creators welcome the links back to their content because it helps them rank better.

So in this article from KISSmetrics they expose 3 myths about duplicate content:

3 Myths About Duplicate Content

The words “duplicate content penalty” strike fear in the hearts of marketers. People with no SEO experience use this phrase all the time. Most have never read Google’s guidelines on duplicate content. They just somehow assume that if something appears twice online, asteroids and locusts must be close behind.

This article is long overdue. Let’s bust some duplicate content myths.

 

Myth #1: Non-Original Content on Your Site Will Hurt Your Rankings across Your Domain

I have never seen any evidence that non-original content hurts a site’s ranking, except for one truly extreme case. Here’s what happened:

The day a new website went live, a very lazy PR firm copied the home page text and pasted it into a press release. They put it out on the wire services, immediately creating hundreds of versions of the home page content all over the web. Alarms went off at Google and the domain was manually blacklisted by a cranky Googler.

It was ugly. Since we were the web development company, we got blamed. We filed a reconsideration request and eventually the domain was re-indexed.

So what was the problem?

• Volume: There were hundreds of instances of the same text


• Timing: All the content appeared at the same time


• Context: It was the homepage copy on a brand new domain

It’s easy to imagine how this got flagged as spam.

But this isn’t what people are talking about when they invoke the phrase “duplicate content.” They’re usually talking about 1,000 words on one page of a well-established site. It takes more than this to make red lights blink at Google.

Many sites, including some of the most popular blogs on the internet, frequently repost articles that first appeared somewhere else. They don’t expect this content to rank, but they also know it won’t hurt the credibility of their domain.

Myth #2: Scrapers Will Hurt Your Site

I know a blogger who carefully watches Google Webmaster Tools. When a scraper site copies one of his posts, he quickly disavows any links to his site. Clearly, he hasn’t read Google’s Duplicate Content Guidelines or the Guidelines for Disavows.

Ever seen the analytics for a big blog? Some sites get scraped ten times before breakfast. I’ve seen it in their trackback reports. Do you think they have a full-time team watching GWT and disavowing links all day? No. They don’t pay any attention to scrapers. They don’t fear duplicate content.

Scrapers don’t help or hurt you. Do you think that a little blog in Asia with no original writing and no visitors confuses Google? No. It just isn’t relevant.

Personally, I don’t mind scrapers one bit. They usually take the article verbatim, links and all. The fact that they take the links is a good reason to pay attention to internal linking. The links on the scraped version pass little or no authority, but you may get the occasional referral visit.

Read more — Source

 

Remember only the best content gets curated.

Myths About Duplicate Content

Learn More About 3D Printing

What Can You Use A 3D Printer For?

Explore the endless possibilities of 3D printing when coupled with imagination and inspiration!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi16PvNtiFc

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Learn More About 3D Printing

The Art Of Doing Things Wrong

The Art And Science Of Making Things Will Inevitably Lead To Doing Some Things Wrong

The industrialist mindset of productivity and predictable perfection has infected all elements of our lives, from school to science. Once you see it, you’ll understand how it pushes us to avoid the hard work of doing truly interesting science, and how it encourages us to avoid the maker mindset. In this informal talk, Seth  will try to get under your skin, at least a little, about what’s at stake.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ01MH9BQqk

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Are You An Artist Or A Production Worker?

The Art Of Doing Things Wrong

Endless Ideas For Blog Articles

When you Go To Write A Blog Post Do You Need Ideas, Do You Get Writers Block?

It’s a simple question – What should I write about?

Well I’ve found a solution for you and I’m going to get Charlie To give you 3 ways to solve your problem of coming up with blog post Ideas.

The good news is that you don’t need to learn 45 ways to create article ideas. These three may be all you need to generate endless article ideas to ramp up your content marketing plan.

METHOD 1 – Speak from experience

If you have experience in a particular field then you have a great starting point for writing articles. The Internet is all about one thing – information – and you have it.

When you share that information on a blog or in a newsletter people will read it, like it and visit the sites you promote.

This is called building trust, and it’s a vital step in online marketing. It’s a step that many overlook, which could be one reason 99% of affiliates fail to make any money at all.

Speaking from experience is best for “how to” and “what to avoid” articles.

Here are three article titles that fit this idea.

• Three dangerous mistakes to avoid when camping


• How to stay safe on your next cruise


• How to add 10 yards to your drive today

Whether your life experience including cooking fabulous meals or brokering peace summits between nations doesn’t really matter.

What matters is that there is someone online right now who needs what you know, and they are searching. They want to hear from you! When you become the source of information they get to know you, like you and trust you. And then they will buy from you.

METHOD 2 – Share Your Research

Don’t want to write from your own experience or think your experience doesn’t make good article material?

No problem!

You can share what you have learned by doing research.

The good news here is that you don’t have to be a librarian or hard-core researcher to do this. If you know how to use Google and are curious you have what it takes to create endless article ideas by doing a little research.

Here are two ideas that make great article material, and topics you can research in only a few hours. In those few hours you could easily come up with hundreds of article ideas.

Definitions make great article material.

For many people working on the Internet is like landing on Mars. They don’t know the terrain and certainly don’t know the language. When your articles take the confusion away and stop the information overload they will remember your name.

The first step to earning loyalty will have begun!

This is why an article (or series of articles) about what things mean is a great idea.

Defining terms like HTML or ROI or PPC or PPV is easy to do and super-helpful to the reader.

Another idea is sharing answers to Frequenly Asked Questions. This is also easy resarch to do. You probably have had many questions answered yourself, and that’s a good place to start.

Or you could visit almost any forum and find lots of questions being asked. Never copy from a site directly but there’s nothing wrong with taking inspiration from answers you find helpful. And always make sure the answers you share are accurate.

METHOD 3 – Solve A Specific Problem  –   Go to Charlie’s blog to read more

 

Do you have that idea now for your next blog post?

Do you have other ways to come up with things to write about ?

Leave a comment and let us know more ways

Endless Ideas For Blog Articles

Financial Truths The History Channel Can"t Air

The Dominoes Are Falling  On The World Financial Situation

Here is a video from a couple of months ago, It’s interesting to watch as the dominoes fall.

Have you protected you fortune?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zzSAoD2mzU#t=57

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The time to buy silver and gold is before it skyrockets.

Financial Truths The History Channel Can"t Air

The Truth About Entrepreneurship

Have you ever wondered why so many entrepreneur fail?

Here is a truth about entrepreneurship.

No matter how small or big a company is, it has to be capable of doing 3 things beautifully.

Towards the end of this video Ernesto talks about this truth – have a watch

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chXsLtHqfdM

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1. The product you sell has to be fantastic


2. You have to have fantastic marketing.


3. You have to have tremendous financial management

Guess what.

There isn’t a single human being who can make it, sell it and look after the money.

That person has never been born.

So the question is –

Do You Have Your Team In Place Yet?

The Truth About Entrepreneurship

John"s 5 Levels Of Leadership

This Is A Must Watch Video For Any Aspiring Leader

Anyone can learn to be a leader, It is a learned skill. But do you know what level of leadership you are at? When you know this you can start down the path to the next higher level.

Discover the levels of leadership and take the next step in becoming a better leader.

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http://youtu.be/aPwXeg8ThWI

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Be All You Can Be!

John"s 5 Levels Of Leadership

Your Worth It - Stop Discounting Your Prices

Here Is A Common Problem – Not Enough Work Or Sales Coming In

The temptation is to give your customer a discount to entice them to take immediate action. It’s a tactic that sorta works in the short term, but long term I believe competing on price and not learning how to market effectively is the #1 reason so many go out of business.

There is another way and this article by Claire Mitchell might just give you some insights to improve your business.

You’re Worth it! (How To Stop Discounting Your Prices!)

When business isn’t coming in as quickly as you’d like or you’re feeling the heat of the competition, it’s really tempting to think ‘I’ll just slash my prices and get more customers’

The thing is that this is a vicious circle.

Once you start discounting it’s hard to stop.

You’re setting an expectation with your clients and devaluing your products and services. Before you know it, your full price doesn’t exist any more, you’re attracting all the wrong customers who are looking for ‘cheap’ and even you don’t believe it’s worth it.

Instead of discounting, think of ways to add value, through impeccable customer service, being really tailored to one particular client type, offering outstanding quality or giving ‘add ons’ rather than reducing the price.

Believe in your products & services, believe in your pricing, let other discount and attract ‘cheap’ customers. Hold your head high and stick by your prices.
For More Great Tips Go To Clairs Website

Just Remember – You’re Worth It

Your Worth It - Stop Discounting Your Prices

The One Thing You Can Do?

This Is The Focusing Question Gary Keller Insists Will Takes You To Uncommon Answers

” What Is The One Thing I Can Do Such That By Doing It Everything Else Will Be Easier Or Unnecessary?” — Gary Keller

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Anyone who dreams of an uncommon life eventually discovers there is no choice but to seek an uncommon approach to living it. The focusing question is that uncommon approach. In the world of no instructions, it becomes the simple formula for finding exceptional answers that lead to extraordinary results.

“What is the ONE Thing I can do

Such that by doing it

everything else will be easier or

unnecessary?”

In the big picture you are asking what is my one thing? In the small picture you are asking what is my one thing right now?

This question is both your map for the big picture and a compass for your next move.

Extra ordinary results are rarely happenstance. They come from the choices we make and the actions we take. The Focusing Question always aims you at the absolute best of both by focusing you to do what is essential to success. Make the best decision. But not just any decision. It drives you to make the best decision. It ignores what is doable and drills down to what is necessary, to what matters. It leads you to the first domino. To stay on track for the best possible day, month, or year ar even career, you must keep asking the focusing question. Ask it again and again, and it focuses you to line up the tasks in their leveled order of importance. then, each time you ask it, you see your next priority. The power of this approach in than you’re setting yourself up to accomplish one task on top of another. When you do the right task first, you also build the right mindset first, the right skill first, and the right relationship first. Powered by th Focusing Question, your actions become a natural progression of building one right thing on top of the previous right thing. when this happens, you’re in position to experience the power of the domino effect.

Whether you seek answers big or small. asking the Focusing Question is the ultimate success habit for your life.

The One Thing You Can Do?

How Leaders Develop Collaborative Environments

A Critical Leadership Skill You Need In Your Arsenal

Collaborative environments give you happy motivated workers resulting in projects being completed ahead of schedule with a minimum in turnover of resources.

In this article Tanveer gives us some excellent insights into the process.

When it comes to thriving in today’s fast-changing, interconnected global economy, one of the attributes of organizational success that often comes up is ensuring that we promote greater collaboration among the various teams and departments within our workplace.

Indeed, the ability to foster collaboration in your organization has become a critical leadership competency as technological, process-driven differentiators give way to people-centric ones in today’s knowledge-based global economy.

Unfortunately, while leaders may state that they want to engender a more collaborative environment in their organization, they don’t realize how often own actions are actually serving to stifle collaboration, promote the growth of silos, and ultimately hindering their organization’s ability to innovate or incur any real forward momentum.

Time and time again, I’ve met with leaders who are eager to champion collaboration among their different teams and departments, but who unknowingly create or reinforce barriers that prevent their employees from challenging their assumptions or beliefs of how things can be done.

Although in some cases, the actions and behaviours are specific to a particular situation, there are nonetheless some common missteps these leaders share which have only served to impede collaboration among their employees.

To address and prevent these common mistakes from happening in your organization, I’d like to share the following four measures that leaders should take to ensure that they’re creating an environment where employees are compelled to dedicate their discretionary efforts to the shared purpose of their organization.

1. Define at the start what to expect from one another

At the start of any new initiative – whether it’s the development of a new product or service line, a change initiative to improve things, or coming up with an action plan to address a current crisis, there’s the natural and understandable tendency for all involved parties to focus first on the end goal, followed by a discussion of what measures or steps should be taken to get the ball rolling.

While these are critical points to address, there’s a third element that leaders often overlook that’s vital to communicate and establish early on in the process. And that is to define the nature of the working relationships of those involved in this endeavour. Specifically, that you help them to articulate what they should expect from one another.

In several cases, I noted how problems arose not simply because team members disagreed on a particular point or issue, but because they were operating from different perspectives of what they should be expected to do, and what they saw as being their team mates’ responsibility to address.

This lack of clarity in expectations made it difficult for everyone in the team to accept responsibility for what needed to be done, which naturally lead to finger-pointing instead of problem-solving when something invariably went wrong.

Consequently, the team began to fragment into various splinter groups, focused on protecting their interests and reserving any faults or recriminations for those outside their social cluster.

This is why from the very start of any initiative, we need to make sure that we make it very clear what our team mates should not only expect from us, but what they should expect from one another. This will not only help to reduce misunderstandings, but it will also make it easier for your employees to collaborate as there won’t be any concerns over accidentally stepping on the toes of their team mates.

2. Leave intentional spaces for others to contribute

When it comes to the proposal of any new initiative, it’s natural for leaders to want to define all the steps involved and how the organization would go about attaining it.

However, if we want to promote collaboration within our organization, we can’t come into these initiatives with a full game plan in hand. Although it’s easy for us to envision the whole process and various steps involved to get us to where we want to go, we have to restrain ourselves from doing such and instead, create these intentional gaps in our vision or plan.

What these intentional spaces do is allow for our employees to add their own contributions – their talents, insights, and creativity – towards the achievement of the overarching objective behind this vision or initiative. And this will allow for your employees to have a greater sense of shared ownership in that vision or goal.

One of the best examples of this measure in action was in how President John F. Kennedy presented his vision for how the US would send a man to the moon in less than 10 years. While he defined both the end goal and the timeframe for completion, he left these intentional spaces so that the various teams of scientists, engineers, and politicians involved in the endeavour could collaborate towards making his vision a reality.

The effectiveness of this measure is often seen in the story of the NASA janitor who when asked by journalists – who thought he was one of the scientists – what he did at NASA replied that he was helping to send a man to the moon.

The fact that the story continues to be shared as an example of what it was like to work at NASA during the Apollo missions demonstrates just how powerful this gesture is to creating the kind of collaborative environment that allowed for such fantastic achievements to move into the realm of possibility.

3. Don’t let assumptions prevent you from asking questions  *** Read More ***

How Leaders Develop Collaborative Environments

7 Magic Steps of Achievement

There Is A Formula For Achievement

A formula that most people do not know exists or they simply do not follow.

In this article Honoree gives you the important steps to follow.

In order to achieve anything, you absolutely must have your ducks in a row. There are simple yet not-so-easy steps that can accelerate you on your quest for achievement. In fact, when you “have your act together” you can by-pass all of the folks who are showing up without a plan, hoping for success, all while living mostly in reaction. By taking a strategic, intentional and proactive approach to success, you’ll achieve your outcomes faster, easier and with less stress.

1. Set clear long-term and short-term goals and commit 100%. Make sure that you’re motivated by, and committed to, the goals you’ve set for yourself. This will help ensure you’re willing to take the necessary steps to reach those goals successfully.

2. Stay focused on your goals once you’ve set them. It’s easy to stray off course, and by keeping your goals in sight, you can work toward them every day. Post your goals where you can see, and consciously review, them at least twice a day.

3. Overcome obstacles. No one ever said that reaching your goals and obtaining success was easy. If you truly desire to achieve success in life, you must be willing to overcome any and every obstacle you encounter on the way to reaching your goals and dreams. Be the “ant the moved the plant” and go around, under, or over any obstacles that land in your path.

4. Approach your goals and dreams with a positive attitude.   *** Read More ***

 

Stay In The Game – These Magic Steps Are Not Quite As Easy As They First Look.

7 Magic Steps of Achievement

7 Tools To Use To Maximize Your Leadership Ability

These Timeless Tools Can Make You The Leader To Follow

Leadership can be hard to define. These leadership qualities are a must have if you are going to succeed as a leader.

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Leadership is the ability to make things happen. Given the increasing complexity of the world in which we live in, and the enormous demands placed on leaders, I believe these seven tools will help you maximize your leaderability.

Vision

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” – Proverbs 29: 18

Vision as a picture of the future a leader has in mind which inspires him and he shares it with others for them to feature in bringing it to pass. Being a leader requires you to have a clear vision of the future and being able to communicate it passionately and clearly to others.

Leadership success begins with vision. Walt Disney envisioned a place people can come and have fun, Todd Nielsen thought of a place where people can come together to learn and share their leadership views, and Martin Luther King, jr., dreamed of a world where everyone is equal.

You must endeavor to create a compelling vision, clarify it and market it properly for people to buy-in. The success of your leadership is tied to the actualization of your vision.

Passion

Passion is essential for effective leadership. I have observed great leaders in corporate, religious, academic, political and social organizations, one thing they have in common is that they are very passionate with what they believe in.

Ralph Waldo Emerson rightly said, “Passion is one of the most powerful engines of success. Nothing great was ever achieved without passion.” Leadership is a marathon and passion is the energy you need to finish fine.

Your passion is your passport to progress; make it right.

Confidence

Firm belief in yourself is a key to being a successful leader anytime. It helps you go the way and show the way. Douglas McArthur painted a good picture of it when he said, “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.”

Confidence is a fundamental basis of leadership. It helps you to stand your ground during challenging times. Self-confidence is not magic; it can be developed.

Communication

To share your vision, inspire others, and sell your products and services, you need good communication skills. To excel in leadership, you must master the art of effective communication. Great leaders are great communicators.

Don’t just communicate; connect!


Communication styles differ from leader to leader. Your body language and words should be topnotch. As a leader, your communication must be clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete and courteous because your ability to communicate and connect effectively raises the bar on your leadership.

Compassion   *** Read More ***

 

Can You Become A Better Leader By Using These Tools?

Let’s hear your story in the comments.

7 Tools To Use To Maximize Your Leadership Ability

12 Tips To Increase Your Reach On Facebook

Our Reach In Declining On Facebook

There are a number of thing you can do to maximize what reach Facebook will give you.

So I’d like to share these 12 tips I fond to do just that:

12 practical Facebook reach tips

Let’s round up some further practical tips that have been working well for me and can hopefully benefit your page, too. These tips originally appeared on this Facebook post.

1. Post more often - at least three times a day.* (However, you may find your page works better with less – you have to experiment).


2. Experiment with posting at different times of the day, including outside business hours.


3. Post a mix of your own content (short tips + links to your longer blog posts) + OPC (other people’s content that you curate from a variety of sources). e.g. for Facebook-related content, follow this Interest List with 36.5k+ subscribers!


4. Post directly on your Page and also share posts from other relevant Pages.


5. Include @ tags of related Pages in your posts. This may help create more visibility in the news feed of the fans who have liked the tagged pages. Don’t over do the @ tags, though, and always remember your etiquette.


6. Repost your own evergreen content.


7. Mix up the post types: status updates, links, photos, videos, offers, events, milestones and cover image changes.


8. Test post length from super short (<120 characters) to much longer (63k is the max!).


9. Check your Insights for when your fans are online and be sure to post during these times (as well as outside, per tip #2).


10. Consider coming up with a theme for each day of the week and publish posts pertaining to that day’s theme. Also, look for ways to crowd source content and featured input from your fans.


11. Compare your reach performance against the average at:http://barometer.agorapulse.com/


12. And, of course PAY for more reach on posts that impact your bottom-line, using the Boost post option or go into your Ads Manager/Power Editor.**

Read More

Have you found a favorite way to increase your reach? Let us know in the comments below.

12 Tips To Increase Your Reach On Facebook

The Pendulum Is Swinging - Old Style Marketing Sales Funnels Are Dead

Today’s Consumers – The Younger Generation Make Buying Decisions In A Totally Different Way

As a marketer, especially in thin fast paced mobile communications world, have to stay in tune with the segments of society you are trying to reach.

The old sales funnel approach isn’t working as well as it once did. The old, get them to optin, sales page and follow up sale messages don’t seam to get the conversion rates they did 5 years ago.

Today’s consumers, especially the younger ones have grown up in a social media environment, with mobile devices galore. Information is instantly available to them and to ones providing the best info, who come across as true experts, who develop trust and their authority are getting the most sales.

Here is a Ted Talk Where Michael Drew talks about this pendulum swing witch probably is affecting your business today:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04c8e_W8jmg

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What Can You Do To Take Advantage Of This Swing In Marketing Know How?

The Pendulum Is Swinging - Old Style Marketing Sales Funnels Are Dead

Do These 30 Things For Yourself - Starting Today

 #26 Is Something We All Need To Work On

Do you want a more successful happier life?

Then don’t pass this article up.

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Marc and Angel are the authors of 1000 Little Things Happy Successful People Do Differently. Here’s their amazing list of 30 things to start doing for yourself. If you enjoy this, be sure to visit their website for more inspirational advice and tips for life.

#1. Start spending time with the right people. – These are the people you enjoy, who love and appreciate you, and who encourage you to improve in healthy and exciting ways. They are the ones who make you feel more alive, and not only embrace who you are now, but also embrace and embody who you want to be, unconditionally.

#2. Start facing your problems head on. – It isn’t your problems that define you, but how you react to them and recover from them. Problems will not disappear unless you take action. Do what you can, when you can, and acknowledge what you’ve done. It’s all about taking baby steps in the right direction, inch by inch. These inches count, they add up to yards and miles in the long run.

#3. Start being honest with yourself about everything. – Be honest about what’s right, as well as what needs to be changed. Be honest about what you want to achieve and who you want to become. Be honest with every aspect of your life, always. Because you are the one person you can forever count on. Search your soul, for the truth, so that you truly know who you are. Once you do, you’ll have a better understanding of where you are now and how you got here, and you’ll be better equipped to identify where you want to go and how to get there. Read The Road Less Traveled.

#4. Start making your own happiness a priority. – Your needs matter. If you don’t value yourself, look out for yourself, and stick up for yourself, you’re sabotaging yourself. Remember, it IS possible to take care of your own needs while simultaneously caring for those around you. And once your needs are met, you will likely be far more capable of helping those who need you most.

#5. Start being yourself, genuinely and proudly. – Trying to be anyone else is a waste of the person you are. Be yourself. Embrace that individual inside you that has ideas, strengths and beauty like no one else. Be the person you know yourself to be – the best version of you – on your terms. Above all, be true to YOU, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it.

#6. Start noticing and living in the present. – Right now is a miracle. Right now is the only moment guaranteed to you. Right now is life. So stop thinking about how great things will be in the future. Stop dwelling on what did or didn’t happen in the past. Learn to be in the ‘here and now’ and experience life as it’s happening. Appreciate the world for the beauty that it holds, right now.

#7. Start valuing the lessons your mistakes teach you. – Mistakes are okay; they’re the stepping stones of progress. If you’re not failing from time to time, you’re not trying hard enough and you’re not learning. Take risks, stumble, fall, and then get up and try again. Appreciate that you are pushing yourself, learning, growing and improving. Significant achievements are almost invariably realized at the end of a long road of failures. One of the ‘mistakes’ you fear might just be the link to your greatest achievement yet.

#8. Start being more polite to yourself. – If you had a friend who spoke to you in the same way that you sometimes speak to yourself, how long would you allow that person to be your friend? The way you treat yourself sets the standard for others. You must love who you are or no one else will.

#9. Start enjoying the things you already have. – The problem with many of us is that we think we’ll be happy when we reach a certain level in life – a level we see others operating at – your boss with her corner office, that friend of a friend who owns a mansion on the beach, etc. Unfortunately, it takes awhile before you get there, and when you get there you’ll likely have a new destination in mind. You’ll end up spending your whole life working toward something new without ever stopping to enjoy the things you have now. So take a quiet moment every morning when you first awake to appreciate where you are and what you already have.

#10. Start creating your own happiness. – If you are waiting for someone else to make you happy, you’re missing out. Smile because you can. Choose happiness. Be the change you want to see in the world. Be happy with who you are now, and let your positivity inspire your journey into tomorrow. Happiness is often found when and where you decide to seek it. If you look for happiness within the opportunities you have, you will eventually find it. But if you constantly look for something else, unfortunately, you’ll find that too. Read Stumbling on Happiness.

#11. Start giving your ideas and dreams a chance. – In life, it’s rarely about getting a chance; it’s about taking a chance. You’ll never be 100% sure it will work, but you can always be 100% sure doing nothing won’t work. Most of the time you just have to go for it! And no matter how it turns out, it always ends up just the way it should be. Either you succeed or you learn something. Win-Win.

#12. Start believing that you’re ready for the next step. – You are ready! Think about it. You have everything you need right now to take the next small, realistic step forward. So embrace the opportunities that come your way, and accept the challenges – they’re gifts that will help you to grow.

#13. Start entering new relationships for the right reasons. – Enter new relationships with dependable, honest people who reflect the person you are and the person you want to be. Choose friends you are proud to know, people you admire, who show you love and respect – people who reciprocate your kindness and commitment. And pay attention to what people do, because a person’s actions are much more important than their words or how others represent them.

#14. Start giving new people you meet a chance. – It sounds harsh, but you cannot keep every friend you’ve ever made. People and priorities change. As some relationships fade others will grow. Appreciate the possibility of new relationships as you naturally let go of old ones that no longer work. Trust your judgment. Embrace new relationships, knowing that you are entering into unfamiliar territory. Be ready to learn, be ready for a challenge, and be ready to meet someone that might just change your life forever.

#15. Start competing against an earlier version of yourself. – Be inspired by others, appreciate others, learn from others, but know that competing against them is a waste of time. You are in competition with one person and one person only – yourself. You are competing to be the best you can be. Aim to break your own personal records.

#16. Start cheering for other people’s victories.***  Read More  ***

Take a new little step every day. That’s the key.

 

Do These 30 Things For Yourself - Starting Today

Are Sales Funnels Dead?

Long Term Relationships Are Today’s Ticket To Success

Learn why it’s harder today to remain profitable.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZKLXvH8_kE

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This video will probably be taken down in a day or two so watch it asap.

Are Sales Funnels Dead?

The Magic In The Word "Yes"

Building Yes Momentum Is A Tried And True Marketing Technique

 

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Here is a tried and true marketing technique that Charlie has recently brought to my attention anew.

here is an old sales technique from the 1970s that works very well on the Internet. I know because I’m an old salesman from the 1970s! 

It’s called building “yes momentum” and it works incredibly well to raise conversions on sales letters, one time offer pages and squeeze pages too.

I want to share with you how it works and how you can begin using it today.

But first, let me ask you three questions.

1. If there was a marketing strategy that you believed with all your heart would work for you would you spend one hour to put it into practice? Not one hour a day – one hour ever.

2. If you could increase sales with your current level of traffic would that have an impact on your bottom line?

3. Do you want to sell more products with less effort starting today?

If you answered yes to all three of these questions (or any of them!) then you just experienced what “yes momentum” is all about.

SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE

The idea is simple but highly effective.

The premise is this – if you can get your prospect (be they a visitor to your site or a reader of your ad or article) to say “yes” in their head enough times then when the time comes for them to decide to buy or not buy the momentum of the “yeses” will carry them through and more of them will buy.

This method works. I use it all the time and in almost all of my marketing.

The wonderful thing about it is that you can increase sales without needing more traffic. While many believe that more traffic will increases sales the fact is that many people are getting the traffic they need now but not converting that traffic into sales.

I”m all for getting more traffic but I’m just as interested in converting as many visitors into customers as possible.

This technique will help do that.

Let’s look at where you can use it  ***  Read More  ***

How Many Yeses Have You Gotten Today?

Your Success May Depend on it.

Comments anyone?

The Magic In The Word "Yes"

Use Google Analytics Audience Data And Improve Your Marketing

Google Analytics Can Be Intimidating – There’s A Lot There

If your like me, I don’t know what all that data that is available in analytics really means.

There is one tab in the left column of analytics called audience and the subtopics under this tab can tell you a lot about your traffic.

So read this article, learn more about the Audience reports, get to know more about your website visitors, understand the demographics, behaviors and interests of your website visitors improves your online marketing.

In this article Kristi will share what data is found in the Google Analytics’ Audience section and how it can apply to your online marketing strategy.

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Note: One way to get the most out of any Google Analytics data is to set up conversion goals. If you haven’t done this already, set up the easiest goal type by reviewing the first point under the Google Analytics Admin header in this Google Analytics Basics post.

The Audience Reports

There are nine separate reporting sections under Audience in your website’s Google Analytics profile.

With the exception of Overview and Users Flow, each section includes an easy-to-read sessions graph and table chart showing the acquisition, behavior and conversions data for each group.

For an in depth look at each subheading Click Here to see the multitude of images on the source site.

 

What did you think?

I know I’ll be taking a deeper look into my audience data from now on.

How about You?

 

Use Google Analytics Audience Data And Improve Your Marketing

Beauty Products The Toxic Nightmare

It’s A Message Many MLM Entrepreneurs Have Been Spreading For Years

Personal care products do not fall under the strict regulations that govern food and drugs. Many of these products contain very harmful chemicals.

When I was in school back in the 60′s they taught us that the skin was a very protective layer against all the bad stuff out there in the world. It was a common belief years ago. In the past few decades it has become increasingly clear that that is not the case. Your skin, the largest organ in your body, actually can very easily allow chemicals to pass through it.

That my friends is why we need to be concerned what we put on our skin.

This video is a must watch if you are concerned about your and your families health.

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May you live long and prosper.

 

What do you think about this topic? Leave us a comment below.

Beauty Products The Toxic Nightmare

Do You Nap While You Travel?

Here Is A New Travel Accessory Designed To Allow You Sweet Dreams

An interesting doohickie I found while reading the Huffington Post today.

We’ve seen some truly bizarre travel doohickies in our day, from two-story armreststo pocket-sized humidifiers to color-changing, mood-tracking happiness blankets.

But while it’s the most simplistic design of them all, the Napwrap is going to beat every strange gadget on the market.

Why? The fabulous invention holds your arms together while you nap, preventing that whole head-bobbing cycle where prop your arm on the armrest, fall asleep, then get a jarring wake-up call when your head slips off your hand.

To use the Napwrap, loop it over your bicep then place your other arm through the loop to secure them both in place. Your arms will stay comfortably strung together, even when you fall asleep. No more annoying unfolding when you lose consciousness!

The Napwrap also doubles as a non-dorky phone holder, eye mask and earmuff. Nowthis is a gizmo we will actually use.

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See more images and insights at the source article

 

May Your Travels Be Most Enjoyable.

Do You Nap While You Travel?

Ethics - The Gap Between The Ideal And The Real

Are The Ethical Principles You Believe In The Same As The Ethical Principles You Engage In?

Watch as John Maxwell gives you some insights on ethics

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXt7WolN7K0

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Either You Have It Or You Don’t.

Do You Have It? — Really?

Prove it — leave a comment.

Ethics - The Gap Between The Ideal And The Real

Have Your Heart In It

You’ve Heard It — “Do What You Love And The Money Will Follow.”

Well? — Charlie’s got a slightly different take on it that I think you’ll like:

That’s true and not true at the same time.

For example, if what you really love is watching reruns of Friends, and that is all you do, it’s going to be hard for you to get ahead financially.

So, effective today, I’m making up a new phrase to replace the old phrase.

Ready?

I’m going from “do what you love and the money will follow” to …

“Blog about what you love and the money will follow”

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You see, I’m 100% convinced, based on many years of experience, that anyone can make a living with the topic that moves them most.

I believe this because I’ve lived it, and seen it happen hundreds of times.

From watching television to helping cure low thyroid disorder, I’ve seen people follow their hearts and find their living.

When I say these things to people they often ask how it’s done. They are, understandably, skeptical. After all, it sounds little too good to be true, right?

Fair question, especially considering that there is more than enough information about what we “should” do but precious little about how to do what needs doing.

So let me share today a five step formula, a blueprint really, for following your passion, and finding your life (and living) when you do.

Step 1 – Create a blog about your passion

Yes I know, everyone says you need a blog. Just like everyone says you need a mailing list of your own. We all get tired of hearing it.

Funny thing is, both of these cliches are right.

You really do need a list of your own.

And yes, you really do need a blog of your own.

Why?

Because you need a home base.

• You need a place to point to when someone says “what do you do?”


• You need a place to connect with others who are passionate about what you are passionate about.


• A place to create a sense of community.

And, commercially, a place to build a list so you can sell things.

Here is something I believe with all my heart …

There is no separation between art and business when both are done well.

There is no conflict between serving readers and visitors to your site and asking them to buy something from you when you truly believe in what you promote.

There is no ethical disconnect between loving and serving your readers and hoping they will buy the products you recommend because they know and trust you.

Following your passion is good business. It’s good for your soul. It’s good for your pocketbook.

It’s just good all the way around.

Now for step 2 …

Step 2 – Create the best content you can

I can hear some of you saying “but I can’t write!”. Not to worry. Being able to “write well” is not necessary.

Let me ask you this —

• Can you talk?


• Can you relate stories that happened to you or to those you know?


• Can you share with a friend why you loved a movie?


• Can you teach anyone to do anything, including tying a shoe?

If you answered yes to any of these questions you have the seeds of being a great producer of content.

You just need to practice the skills.

Here are a few tips to help you along the way.

• Write like you speak. Forget the rules and just put it on paper like you would say it to your best friend.


• Speak your content if you don’t want to write. Then have it transcribed into articles.


• Tell stories every time you can. People love stories.


• Share your heart, experience and wisdom. Just be you.

I believe with all my heart that everyone reading this has value to add to the lives of others.

We just need a framework for getting all that good stuff out of your head and into the world so others can learn from your experience.

Step 3 – Curate the best thinking of others in your area of passion

There has never been a time in history when it was easier to make money online than today. I know that statement might raise a few eyebrows.

I know too that many of you have struggled to make it online.

But I still believe this …

There has never been a time in history when it was easier to make money online than today.

Why do I believe that?

Find out why and get 2 more steps back on charlie’s page — Source

Make work fun !

Work your passion !

And that is a beautiful thing indeed !

We’d all be interested in your comments.

Have Your Heart In It

Authenticity Matters

But Do You Know Why Authenticity Matters?

Jim Hauden  believes that business results don’t come from creating a great strategy, but by meaningfully connecting it to all of the people in the company to bring it to life.

For more than 20 years, he has been helping organizations unleash hidden potential by fully engaging their people to deliver on the strategies of the business. Jim is a frequent speaker on leadership alignment, strategy execution, employee engagement, business transformation, change management, and accelerated learning.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDx_wU0xNcs

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Authentic Power Is Built On

• Compassion


• Empathy


• Vulnerability


• Service

How Authentic Are You?

 

Authenticity Matters

Program Your Mind For Success

The Decision Is Yours – Mindset Counts

Here’s a quote from Tony Robbins:

“Your destiny is determined by the choices you make. Choose now. Choose well.”

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Watch this video and Carrie will explain how this quote changed her life:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmfikLimeQ8

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Carrie’s Steps For Success

1. What you want to achieve


2. Why you want to achieve it


3. What kind of person do you have to become to make it happen


4. Program your mind to make it happen

 

Have You Program Your Mind For Success?

If Not, Why Not?

If you have how about leaving a comment below and let others know what you did and how in’s working out for you.

Program Your Mind For Success

On Becoming The Next Spindletop

Is There A Key That Could Unlock Your Potential?

The key for you to becoming a successful entrepreneur just might be  found in the story of Spindletop, the world’s most productive oil well.

The story of Spindletop is a simple one … with powerful implications for you and me right now, today.

 

You see it’s a story of a rags to riches farmer in Texas who became an instant millionaire.

OR DID HE?

You see, the oil had been under the ground the entire time. He had owned the same land for many years.

He had worked that same land for many years.

• Every day he planted crops the oil was there.


• Every day he went to bed wondering how to pay the bills and feed his family the oil was there.


• Every time he felt like giving up but didn’t the oil was down there.

But here’s the key; the most important part of the story …

The oil under his land was of no value to him until it was brought to the surface and sold to the market.

Only then was the oil, which had been there all along, worth any real money.

Now for how this applies to you and me.

You and I are like the farmer.

We are sitting on a gold mine of untapped wealth and potential.

We just need to bring it to the surface and offer it to the market.

That untapped potential looks different for everyone.

• For some it is what has been learned over a lifetime of work and effort.


• For others it is the ability to inspire and motivate others to be the best they can be.


• For some it’s being a mentor – showing the way to those who come after them so the “newbies” in their field of endeavor can avoid making mistakes like they made on their journey.

No matter who you are or where you are you have this wealth inside you right now.

The only thing left to do is to bring it to the surface, offer it to the market and turn it into money.

In my 12 years of working full time online (plus 20 more working offline) I have seen people go through the same process.

• They don’t think they have much to share at first.


• They discover the process of bringing their talents to the surface.


• They learn to bring their knowledge to the market.


• They make their living (and sometimes their fortune) selling what they know.

Zig Ziglar did that. He failed as a salesman more times than he cared to count. Then he learned the value of working on a schedule and believing in himself.

The result? Not only did he become a top sales performer but he went on to ignite the worldwith his public speaking and book writing. No one taught others how to tap into their own potential better than Zig.

Full disclosure – although I grew up very near Spindletop I first heard the story told this way by Zig.

Other examples abound.

From main street to wall street the world’s success stories are written by those who take the time to “drill the oil” inside them.

If you are thinking “sounds good but that does not describe me” think again.

I can name story after story of people who took their knowledge and turned it into their living. People who took their passion and learned how to monetize it into a career and lifestyle.

Read the whole article here

And I believe you have a success story in you too.

My goal is to share with you how to do just that — how to “drill the oil” inside you and turn that into your profession, into your living. By provides entrepreneur insight to help you on your way.

Think of the amazing stories we’ll be telling in the future about this amazing journey we are on.

 

On Becoming The Next Spindletop