Friday, December 24, 2010

The Economy That Network Marketing Loves.

There is an old saying "When the going gets tough, the tough get going.", and if the news is right, then this is a very tough economy and the tough are getting going. Are you hiding in the house or jumping on a new Harley and getting to work? So, what are you really doing? There are places like California whose governments are really looking at the entire economy all wrong. When the tough stand up to take on the challenge, the best thing the government can do is move out of the way. Increasing business taxes and adding burdens to businesses will only shrink the economy in the long run.

Payroll taxes, business taxes, permits and anything else the city or state can charge for will act as a deterrent to growth. This creates an opportunity for a very specific market segment, network marketing. Personally as a network marketing participant I have never been what anyone would call successful. The reason is simple, I have never found a network marketing program that I liked so much I wanted to quit my business and dedicate all of my time to it. Several of my friends have and they do quite well.  What I have found is a network marketing program that supports my business, and that of my clients. 

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Is a Prompt Response Really Required?

One of the nice things about my life is I have no clue what day of the week it is or the date is most of the time.  Unless I have a client meeting, I don’t have a clue, nor do I need one.  There is a really funny side effect in that I am really behind on lesser current events and articles.

Just this week I had a couple of thoughts on an article that I read in the back of a limo.  I looked at the date of the magazine and it was 2002.  Can you imagine that?  A magazine in a limo in good shape from 2002?  It was bazaar.  I was catching up on my magazine reading, and read a pretty good article in Fortune Magazine.  It was the November 1st 2010 issue.  The article was “Work less do more.”  I really liked the article, but at the end there was a comment that really threw me off.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Do You Know How to Buy Time? I Do.

It is really funny how many times I hear somebody say “You can't buy time.”   I don't agree with this idea at all.  If you are anybody who is a business owner or wants to succeed in life you have to learn to buy time.  In fact I will make the statement that you have to go beyond buying time and learn how to leverage the time that you buy.

One of the great mistakes that many budding entrepreneurs make is spending too much money too soon and they run out of cash. At the other end of the spectrum is the guy who wants to do it all himself and save every penny he can. The guy that wants to do it all himself and save every penny he can is the guy that needs to learn how to buy time first and leverage time second.  Otherwise he will just struggle and never get ahead. 

Fly First Class – Buy Time

After all isn't somebody buying time when they buy a first-class airline ticket and get to go to the premium security line? Aren't they buying time when they get to arrive at the flight anytime they want? Isn't a first-class customer buying time because he can get on the airplane first and continue to work while everybody else is boarding and trying to find a place for their bags?

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Do You Have A Story, Or Are You Just Living?

What Is Your Headline?

This week, I was researching the title of my next book.  I know now that the title of the first book, So, Now What? was not the headline to make the book fly off the shelves.  I know this because my royalty checks haven’t paid for the new Aston Martin or X5d just yet.   Most people that read So, Now What? only admitted to understanding the title after reading more than half the book.  With the help of Imal Wagner, I realized that a title of a book is nothing more than the headline for the story.  As I looked at all of the books that were on my shelf, one title stood out.  The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris.  All I could think was “What a great headline, what is mine going to be?”

Monday, December 6, 2010

Why Strategy Matters

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching somebody have an epiphany and understand completely what I do for a living. I had been out house shopping with my wife. We looked at a couple of homes with the exact same floor plan, and with very different selling conditions. The first house was a short sale where the people had already moved out. The second home was priced 22% higher and the homeowner was very clear that she was not going to budge on price. She also said she was going to stay for quite some time if necessary.

We decided to discuss the two houses with the real estate agent at the local Starbucks. In doing so the agent asked what I did for a living. When I told her that I was a Business Strategy and Marketing Coach the puzzled look on her face gave me the opening to continue. I said "I help people narrow their niche and find their business strategy so they can become better at what they do, make more money and work less."