Do You Know Anyone Who Just Wants To Be Comfortable?

Lately it seems like there isn't a day that I don't meet someone who just wants to be "comfortable".  Since it is in my nature to try and help people do better, I stop and listen, some people might even call it a bit nosey.  Without fail there is one common denominator among all of them.

In the Real Estate Office my wife works, there were several brand new agents that just wanted to be "comfortable". The common denominator is so obvious once you see it.  When you see it in yourself, it is almost embarrassing.  At least it was for me when my wife pointed it out. Most people won't say it if I tell them to their face, in fact most would argue the point so I never tell anyone directly anymore.  It just made people mad at me, but let's see if you know anyone like this guy I met a short while ago, we'll call him John.

I met John at breakfast while in Dallas Texas.  My flight wasn't for a couple of hours, and I was in the corner studying for my California Real Estate license.  It turns out, I can't do advertising for my wife or Realtor clients without one and yes I passed.

Anyway, John was talking to an older couple who I assumed to be his parents.  They turned out to be his Aunt and Uncle.  John was going over all the changes at his office and telling them how he was very worried about losing his job.  Does any of this sound familiar?  It is like the common thread of the economy.

His aunt and uncle coddled him a bit while he complained that he just wanted to be "comfortable".  He suddenly got my attention.  After all it was exactly this situation that occurred in the middle east with a group of military troops who were too scared to get out of their comfort zone and go back to civilian life that inspired me to write So, Now What?.

I put my iPad down and listened for a couple more minutes before I nosed it.  I just couldn't help it.  John went on to talk about how he had already been demoted, and how his boss kept trying to get him to do his old job for the new lower pay.  He proudly told them how he told his boss he wasn't going to do the extra work.  We went on to complain about the owner of the company driving a new Mercedes and about how his car needed some work.

After he returned to the "comfort" theme for the third time I nosed in and asked what John did for a living.  He worked an office job that used to require a degree, but computers now made it so easy that they were hifing minimum wage kids off the street to do it.  He was moved to another position but then he was cut back to a lower position.  His company was buying another company that had too many operators and the new software would cut half of the people in his department.

So now I started asking more questions.  Did he have a resume out there?  No.  Had he looked at Monster.com or TheLadders.com? No.  I asked if it would be smart to get a jump on the other guys and have that new job before the other guys are applying for it too? Yes, but he just didn't have any time, and he had the golden handcuffs keeping him at his current job.  I asked if this job was going to help him get to where he wants to be in five years?  This answer was the one I have heard a lot lately, he said "I don't want to go anywhere I just want to be comfortable and get what is mine."

I asked him to tell me about anyone he knew that was "comfortable" and getting what is "theirs".  He couldn't come up with on person, real or fantasy.  So we talked about different people in a "better" or "worse" format.  Sometimes using their life like Charlie Sheen, other times using John as the benchmark and comparing John to the other person. About that time the Aunt and Uncle excused themselves to go get ready to leave.

He made a comment that his life wasn't easy like mine because I was rich and he wasn't. I thought that was odd, so I asked if he thought I was always rich.  He said "yes".  I asked if a repo guy trying to take back your truck while you were living on base sounded "rich".  He looked confused.  I asked if selling your house, furniture and most of your personal belongings to pay off a business loan sounded "rich".  He said "no that sounds like bankrupt."

I explained that twice in my life I have made some big errors and failed to get out of my own way, and they cost me big.  I left home full of myself, joined the military and bought everything I could until the banks called wanting it back.  I also built a good sized business on the "build it and they will come" mentality, and guess what, they didn't.  Twice in my life I was beyond broke and could have easily declared bankruptcy.

John agreed his life wasn't that bad.  The next question to John was "If I can do that twice, and you think of me as 'rich' now, do you think you can get rich from where you are right now if you really wanted to?"  He sheepishly answered "I guess".  I knew that he was at least thinking it through and this would keep him up tonight.

Can you name anyone whose life is always the same?  There are a select few like Warren Buffett who seem to go up forever, and then others like Charlie Sheen or Donald Trump who are a roller coaster and finally those that peak and we never hear from them again, I forget who they are.  The bottom line is you can be lazy and move backwards or you can enjoy life and keep moving forward no matter how low you get.  Nobody stays the same.

John eventually agreed that 'comfortable" wasn't anything real and he said he had given up on his dreams after college.  After realizing how lame his excuses were and how lazy he sounded, he said he didn't know where to start.  Of course I suggested So, Now What?, and another book that is out of print but you can find online for free as a download called the Secret of the Ages.

The Secret of the Ages is a book I call "the book of the Jedi Mind".  Most people I worked with through the military didn't need this book, they understand the concepts because of how they were trained.  Since John wasn't ever in the military, I thought Secret of the Ages might be a better starting point for him.  So, Now What?  turns out to be lacking a couple of concepts which are explained in Secret of the Ages.  I'll have to work on the changes along with a new title and cover.  Anyone know a better publisher or agent?

I gave John my card and ran off to catch my flight.  Two months ago he sent a short email that said "I think I get it, but I still don't know what to do!".  My response was get So, Now What? and do the worksheets.

Last week I got an email from John that simply read "You were right, it was in my head, and life is great now.  New job, more money and I am having fun."

I never once said it was in his head, but deep down we all know that we are the only ones that can change our lives.  He knew it, all I could do was help him say it out loud.  Do you know anyone that needs to look in the mirror and say it out loud?  If you do, be a good friend and help them do it.  If it is you, get Secret of the Ages and So, Now What? and leave your questions here or drop me a note anytime.

Google Coupons For Reno Nevada

Do you have a small business in Reno Nevada that isn't online yet or isn't getting the customers online you know it should?        I have some good news,  Google just sent me a handful of $100 off Adwords coupons to help get your business online.  Now you can start on online marketing and SEO program and get $100 credit towards your Google Adwords Advertising FREE.  Did I say F.R.E.E Reno?

You say you don't have a website for your Reno Nevada business?  That's ok.  A website isn't required.  If you want one, how about 25% off until I run out of the cards?  We have a basic website package that is just $500 for businesses like yours in Reno.

I know that the economy in Reno isn't the greatest right now, but we all know it is a great town with great people.  Lets keep it rolling.   Barron's (March 19, 2012) says that housing will bottom out in the next twelve months.  I think Reno will be among the first cities to hit bottom.  Right after our famous Nevada neighbor to the south, Las Vegas.

Our office in Reno is part of the economy here too, so we want Reno to succeed and therefore we want you to succeed.  Advertising online with a website and Google Adwords isn't only about getting new customers in Reno, but it is also about keeping in touch with your past customers.

I know how you feel about spending money on your business right now, and online advertising and marketing are the least expensive methods in Reno when it comes to reaching customers.   This is something you must consider.  Right now you have a choice, invest in your business and be a leader in the recovery of the Reno economy, or look away while your business does the same thing tomorrow it did yesterday, or maybe even less.

Call Now 775-589-2655 or drop me an email with your business name and Address and I'll send you one of these cards.

Maybe you tried online marketing in the past, or your website isn't bringing in any business.  Here are my first questions.  When you picked the company to build the website for you in Reno, did they know the Reno market?  Were they a Reno Company?  Do they even know business or was it just "a guy" that builds cheap websites?

My family has been serving Reno for over 30 years.  Our SEO and Online Marketing Business in Reno is lead by people who know business, not just web geeks.  Don't worry, we have those too.  Our customers all over the west have seen 40% to 1200% growth in business due to online traffic we helped them create.

One note up front.  Really good online performance takes three to six months to really get traction.  When a customer makes it past 6 months, they make it for good.  We have had some of the same clients since 1995.  Not many other SEO and online marketing companies can say that.

We can't take all the credit for the high flying businesses.  All we can do is reach customers in Reno and Sparks for you.  If you take good care of the customers, then we have an army helping us help you.  All you need to do is call me or send an e-mail to get started today.

Is it worth a few hundred dollars to move your business forward?  Call Today and get $100 of free Google ads
775-589-2655

Get $100 Of a New Adwords Campaign

Talk To The New iPad

So the new iPad is here.  As a business owner and all around tech nerd, I wanted the iPhone 5 to be the new hot topic since my iPhone 4 is on its last legs.  The screen doesn't work so good, the home button doesn't work unless I really press hard and the battery life is down to about 10 hours.

My iPad 2 is doing just fine and out comes the "New iPad."  That said if you are an iPad 1 owner, or have been waiting, the new iPad, just called the "New iPad" is what you would expect from Apple after the iPhone 4S launch.  The 4S had a better camera, the New iPad has a better Camera.  The iPhone 4S has Siri the New iPad has dictation, the 4S has a faster process, the new iPad, well you get the idea.

Siri didn't come with the new iPad, instead you get "dictation".  My guess is that the New iPad doesn't have Siri because Siri needs to have internet access in order to work.  What is the use of finding out directions from Google Maps when it can't connect to Google Maps.

Personally I have been a user and a fan of Dragon Dictation for years.  I have Dragon on my MacBook, My PC, and the iPhone version on my iPad.  The piece that is missing is the part that makes it truly mobile. Text to Speech and Speech to text.  I was just a little excited to see the diction button on the new iPad's on screen keyboard.

Wouldn't it be great if your iPhone would connect to your car stereo and let you push a "read" button when you get a text.  Then over my speakers it would say "Dr. Goldberg Sent : I am off Friday, are you going skiing". Then there would be two simple buttons on the screen which you could also activate with voice "Reply" and "Delete".  If you don't do anything for 90 seconds they go away.

I almost wonder if "Instant Voicemail" isn't really the next step.  Well that doesn't matter now because the new iPad doesn't have it, or Siri.  The new iPad has a dictation button.  Really I want both the new dictation button and Siri all in one.  That must be next.

As a long term user of Dragon Dictation, I find the new iPad dictation a little funny.  How many people are going to sit in their cubicle, or out in a park just talking to their iPad?  It won't automatically paste and send for you.  I even feel funny talking to my computer at home sometimes, and 50% of my first book was written with Dragon Dictation so I consider myself a dictation power user.

Admittedly, I got a degree in Business and Information Systems because I really have horrid hand writing and didn't want to learn how to hand write better.  So is the next step that we forget how to type?

On a mobile device I still prefer text,  at least for now.  I like texting for the simple reason that nobody can passively enter my conversation (eavesdrop).  They have to be hacking in or reading those little letters over my shoulders.  I figure the government is already doing that, but I just don't want to share that much with the people sitting around me in the airport.

Honestly I didn't want to know that the guy sitting next to me at LAX yesterday has a pregnant girlfriend.  He also shared with us and the person he was talking to that he doesn't want his parents to know.  He is OK sharing it with the 20 or so people around him and not his parents?  We are funny as humans living in our own little world sometimes right in the middle of everyone else's little world.

Texting has grown exponentially, and the only place I want to see it stop is in the car.  I have been that guy ahead of you at the light who sits through an entire green light.  After seeing two really bad accidents where the driver next to me was texting, I quit texting while the car was moving.  I got Dragon Dictation for my iPhone hoping I could speak my texts while I drive.  It hasn't worked out yet.

In public, I also like that I don't have to answer the phone and hold it to my ear when I forget my Jawbone BlueTooth Headset when I get a text instead of a call.  In fact I would be very happy with unlimited text and data plan and like 100 minutes of talk time.  I mean really, who talks any more?  Maybe that is why Apple added dictation to the new iPad, sow we don't forget how to talk?

The only place I really use Dragon Dictation any more is at home and even then not very much any more.  My new house has an office that opens into the rest of the house and I feel like I am just bugging everyone.  I could be dictating this right now since I am the only one home, but I have changed my habits back to using the old keyboard again.

Back to the New iPad, now where was I?  Oh yes, dictation for all it's hype probably isn't the hot feature of the new iPad.  The retina display of the new iPad is stunning but my iPad 2 is pretty spectacular already.  Now the new iPad really is the super sized iPhone screen.

The real meat is getting 4G and a much faster processor with the new iPad.  As fast as my iPad 2 is, more speed is always better.  Even if it means I'll need a better data plan.

And now there is just one more thing......

I'll call it the "it's about time" feature I almost forgot about because I currently have AT&T.  Verizon is allowing the new 4G iPad to be used as a WiFi Hotspot!  That is a winning feature for people like my wife who are in Real Estate.

The more I think about it the more I wonder if I really need an iPhone any more.  If I went back to my old simple, sleek Motorola Razr for a phone with like 100 minutes, and added a VOIP calling plan like Skype or Line2 to a new iPad I might have every base covered.  Too bad the data plans are soooooo expensive now.

I guess since my wife and I both have the iPad 2, we will likely skip this generation.  We tried an Android tablet also, and it just wasn't ready for mainstream like the iPad.

The New iPad Highlights:
Faster Processor
Real 4G
Hotspot (so far only on Verizon)
Retina Screen

The rest as they say is just "stuff".  So will iPad dictation give every one a reason to talk in public at any time for any reason?  Boy, I hope not.

What do you think?

Are You Marketing Or Advertising With That Cool Website?

Marketing and Advertising are two terms most small business owners interchange.  They don't really understand the difference, and it does make a big difference to your business.

The cost of creating a cool website today really isn't much when you look at the overall cost of running a business.  Better yet, the cost of advertising online  and putting your business name and logo in front of millions of people every day is now possible for less than 1 seconds worth of the time a Super Bowl ad runs.

So why do companies run Super Bowl ads?  For Budweiser the answer is simple.  The Super Bowl ads have moved from advertising to marketing.  Their customers expect it and for them the return is measurable.  Most of the rest of the companies are just advertising, plain and simple.   

Advertising is simply getting your name in front of people with the "hope" that they remember who you are at the right time.  The real truth is the brain doesn't quite work that way.  We are much more abstract than that.  If I ran an ad for Scotts' Best Chocolates often enough, the most likely thing that will happen is people will want  chocolate and then buy their favorite chocolate, or the best packaged chocolate on the shelf when they decide to buy.  

That packaging by the way is marketing, not advertising, and here is why.  Advertising is the initiator that starts someone in a direction.  It is extremely expensive to do.  TV ads, blind ads online, billboards and bus stops are all advertising.  Your message gets to the most people regardless of whether they are ready to buy or in a buying mood.  Marketing is grabbing their attention any time they are in the sales funnel.  Standing at the candy counter is definitely in the funnel, and the packageing might be just the thing to get them to buy one chocolate over the other.

Some well done ads can have a media or subliminal effect.  Food and Beverage ads are the best at that.  My wife says she can tell if I see a Diet Coke, Coke or McDonald's ad because of my Pavlovian response and need to get a Diet Coke.  She once joked that my response was so strong, I will signal to enter McDonald's while driving down the road with a Diet Coke in my hand.

For most small businesses, advertising is a waste of time.  You advertise because everyone else is and you feel like you have too.  Well the truth is you don't.  It is possible to do very little advertising and a lot of marketing and do just fine.

There is a difference based on the size and the age of a business.  It is possible after 10 years of advertising  in a specific neighborhood, that an insurance salesman's' ad becomes his marketing.   Some changes will naturally occur, or he will gently move from advertising to marketing if he is listening to the market and might not even know it.

So what is the difference between Marketing and Advertising?

Marketing is the act of reaching customers who have entered the sales funnel for your product.  If you advertise often enough and consistently enough, you might start getting people in your sales funnel.  

This method works for local service companies like auto repair, insurance and real estate agents.  The expense of doing it is why many people in those industries fail.  The trick is to Someone else's advertising might have done it and you don't care.  The small business owners mission as it pertains to marketing is simply to be in front of them in some form when they are ready to buy.

When long term advertising turns into marketing, competition is effectively locked out, so it is important to start a small and consistent ad campaign

Marketing and Sales go hand in hand.  Their combined purpose is to get your product or service in the hands of your customer and the customers money in your bank account.  Plain and simple.  Every step of a sales funnel is geared this way, and every "Ad" used in marketing should be geared this way.

Small business owners have a love hate relationship with a little split test we do.  A split test is where you create two chains of events and change just one thing to see what happens.  The thing I like to change is the website.  If they have a super fancy website with lots of flash graphics and video, the owners are like a proud papa, and love showing it off.

Over the years I have had to tone down my approach because being "right" doesn't always get me more customers.  Early on I would proudly bet the customer I could improve internet presence and marketing performance with a more simple website.  I don't mean plain, boring, I just mean more simple.  Then I would run the exact same ads, and link them to the two sites, each with a different phone number to see how many calls we get.  After all as a marketer for a service business, all I can do is get them to call.  The last step of the sales funnel is up to you to get them in the door with their wallets open.

Lately, I have had to really back off the presentation and directness of my approach.  Business owners don't like to be shown they are wrong, they want to learn a better way.  Learning takes time, and it has taken me several years to understand that.  I have always felt that as their marketing consultant, my job was to give them the best bang for the buck period.  It turns out that isn't what any business owner really wants.

These days my approach is very different and much more effective at catching and keeping new clients.  The end result is the same, it just takes longer and yet customers are happier because they truly understand.  Many times they end up telling me the right things to do just from observing the changes we make for them online and what happens with those changes.

The back end of my approach is still the same.  After understanding the client and their customers, I build a target schema.  I then gently try to work a little more of the target into the marketing instead of letting them run shotgun style all over the place.  Over time, it becomes obvious what the business is really good at and what the customers really want from them.

The entire mission of small business marketing, or any business marketing for that matter is about connecting with potential new clients, staying connected with current clients and re-connecting with old clients.  Being cool online is just being cool, and doing both is expensive.

Simple Tools To Grow Your Business

Every day I meet with people who own or run a business.  I don't spend a lot of time in government offices now that I am retired from the Air Force Reserves.  I like meeting and talking with business owners and leaders because they all understand the concept of "Mission".

My wife is a real estate agent, actually a Realtor (tm), and for the first time since I have known her, she now has a sense of "Mission".  Gaining the sense of mission is one of the fastest and least expensive changes you can make in your life when it comes to achieving success at any level.

Let's say I want to lose weight, and get down to 180 pounds.  Everytime I pass an ice cream store, I ask the question of mission.  Will this ice cream cone help me lose 180 pounds?  If it hasn't, and I am taking it as a luxury, have I done the exercise to add it today?  The key difference between someone trying to lose weight and being on a mission to lose weight is the work to lose weight is done first.  If I plan to be at 180 by June and I am on track and ran an extra mile today to earn the luxury of the ice cream, I can treat myself.  Otherwise I have to keep walking.  Today I kept walking.

Business is no different.  If you want to make $100,000 this month in whatever you do and you make it a mission, decisions are much easier.  When your buddies call to go to the ball game, you can look at your numbers and know that you are ahead of track or behind.  If it is the 15th and you have already made $90,000.  You can either work on the last $10,000 or go to the ball game.

On the 25th of the month and if you are at $90,000, your actions will tell everyone including the universe itself if you are on a mission or just set a goal.  The person with a goal, will say "$90,000 is close enough." and go to the game.  The person on a mission will stay and work.  There is no "close enough" when it comes to real missions in real life, only success or failure.

Learning to accept the concept of mission is one thing, disciplining yourself to live it is another.  The right side of my white board in the office has initials for several goals I have currently.  Together they spell out the focus of my mission.  I look at it several times a day and it makes me thing smarter about decisions.  My goals cover a few areas today, and I highly suggest that you start out with just one target at a time for your mission.  As you get better at hitting targets, then you can add more targets to shoot for simultaneously.  The worst thing you can do is list to many targets and not hit any.

What is your first target?

The Best Business Improvement Program Ever? Create a Whiteboard of Success for Under $200.

Last night a good friend of mine lost his job.  He asked me what he should do next.  Of course I said "Read my book."  I knew he already had a copy, so buying the book wasn't a problem.  Buying the book isn't the best business improvement program for $200, but it might be the best one for $15 even if the cover is goofy.  (A free signed copy to anyone with a better cover idea that I use.)

Losing a job can be an amazing experience and opportunity if you look at it the right way.  He did.  He hadn't read the book, but he did skip ahead to the next book which I haven't even written yet.  He just knew what to do because we have worked together for a long time and he knows how I think.  I think everyone should act like they are their own business.

What I am going to give you today is the best trick I have learned in helping people improve both their personal life and business life.  If you hire me to work with you on this it is going to be thousands of dollars, and I am giving it to you free.  Why?  Let's be honest, if it works for you and your business grows, I hope you'll hire me as your virtual Chief Marketing Officer or The Bourquin Group as your online marketing agency and SEO

Barry Minkow - Fortune Magazine Jan 15 2012 - The Future Issue

Elementary School is a funny time in a kids life.  I knew Barry Minkow then, and that part of his life is never mentioned when you read about him.  Barry lived in Southern California until ZZZZ Best was raided.  At that time, Barry was part of a family that stayed put and was a foundation in the community, he knew everybody. My family never stayed in a house more than 5 years. In fact the 5 year rule has followed me into my adult life.

If you are like me and moved a lot due to parental employment, divorce and a host of other things, you probably don’t keep in touch with too many of your elementary school friends. You just have some fond memories of a time when you didn’t have bills to pay. I have the phone numbers of exactly one person from my elementary school days and we only see each other once or twice a year.  I lost contact with Barry about the time he started ZZZZ Best Carpet Cleaning.

The nomadic nature of my youth made it difficult to stay in contact with any of my elementary and junior high school friends. The fact that the nomadic life stayed with me into adult hood is another story. Back then, I didn’t have a car, there were no cell phones, and as with all things new and old, new friends came and old friends faded away. We didn’t have Facebook to stay “connected” or “friends” for life even if we never saw each other again. Most of my friends don’t even have a Facebook account, and others stopped using it sometime ago. If they want to know what I am doing today, they just text and come over with a bottle of wine.