What's Next For You?

How has your life been going so far?  Do you wish for more, is it just ok?  Do you wonder why some people make it and others don't?  Have you ever looked at someone and wondered why they have a "great life" and you don't?

If so, what is next for you?  Would you like to know the difference between the people who slug it out at work 9-5 and still can't make ends meet and those who don't ever appear to work and are always having fun?

If you do want to know the difference and change your life, you have found the right place.  I will show you how a lot of people have created great lives and I can show you how to create yours, and it all starts right here.

I didn't know it at the time, but I found one of the great rules of success at a very early age without knowing it.  Was I pursuing a "passion"? Nope.  Was I getting big money from my parents trust fund? Nope.  I just stumbled into something that worked and it was the rush that I have been chasing ever since.  Until a few years ago though I didn't understand it at all.

I tried the passion path, and spent more money than I care to admit building three business that were nothing but a headache.  I was in love with the product, and the process, but the business just didn't work, and I didn't get it.  Other things were so easy for me, and then one day I broke the code.

Looking back I knew it all along, I just didn't understand it.

In the spring of 1984, I was moved to the "continuing education" campus of my high school.  I didn't fit in and didn't like school at all.  I was working at Burger King which oddly was a pretty good job for me at the time.  The owner liked me, and I figured out the work pretty quick.  It still wasn't enough so I joined the Air National Guard, Security Police.

Security Police was not much of a job either, but I was lucky to be surrounded by some very talented people.  After graduating from tech school, and returning to my base with my "badge", I was offered a full time position.  Basically an active duty Air Force job at the Air National Guard Base.  Not having any other way to make money, I took the position.

After three nights of walking circles around airplanes and freezing my tail off, I was beginning to think I had made a huge mistake.  I didn't drink coffee or smoke (and still don't) so I didn't get as many breaks as the other guys.  I didn't fit in and I knew I couldn't do that job forever.

Lucky for me somebody gave me the secret.  I just didn't know it at the time.  Within a few months, I was enjoying my work and wasn't walking around airplanes any more.  One of the side benefits of learning this secret (that I didn't understand back then) is that I have never had to interview for a job since.  The great work that other people want, just seems to fall into my lap.

How would you like someone to walk up to you tomorrow and say "Hi, I would like you to come work for me, doing X."  That is pretty much how it has gone ever since.  Even when I was hired as an airline pilot, my "interview" wasn't anything like what other people were talking about.  It was more like friends talking about a hobby they enjoyed together.

So what is the great secret?  It is a little more than will fit in one post, but if you read my blog regularly you will see it.  It isn't chasing a passion, instead it is doing something that challenges you.

In my Security Police job, the base had a competitive shooting team.  When I tried out the first time, I didn't make the cut, but I had fun and got along with everyone that made the team.  When the first person was transferred out of the base, the team Captain asked me to fill in.  He spent the extra time with me to get me up to the level I needed to be.  It wasn't work, it was fun, five championships later it was rewarding.

That sort of situation has played out over and over throughout my life.  And so has another situation. The other situation is the opposite.  No one asks me to do any work.  I just decide to do it because I am "passionate" about it.  The results, not so good.

After having some success in an area and gaining a bit of freedom, I would get some book or take some class by a "guru" and then try to step out on my own and follow my "passion".  So far my record in this area is 0 for 3.

It would play out like this.  Life would be going great, and I would start to feel guilty about my success and not being like everyone else.  Trying to justify my success, I would go find a book or a class to mask the guilt and frustration of not fitting in and living a "comfortable" life.

I would take the classes, read the books and then go out and start a new business.  I would put my heart and soul into it along with all of the money I made doing other things.  Two or three years later the stress and lack of money would cause me to throw in the towel.

Each time that happened someone would be there to say "Great, now that you have stopped that nonsense, how about you come do X for me?"  My life would become great and fun again and then guess what?  Go back two paragraphs and read it again.  Do this twice, because I am slow and didn't get this lesson very quickly.  I am writing this hoping you don't repeat this cycle ever.

Passion is for the birds and bees, not for business.  Passion is for your attitude towards life, not financing your life.

After closing up my third "failed" business it hit me like a Wreck It Ralph.  Luckily, I was able to close my companies, and acted in good faith with my clients.  Bankruptcy wasn't an option for me, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  You don't want to spend a lot of time with a bankruptcy attorney, and this is from the experience of someone who was only getting advice.  I can't imagine the stress of actually doing it.

So what is the secret? In simple terms, we all have value that we bring to the table.  In very very rare cases it also might be your passion.  For me I will admit it isn't.  What I like about my work is seeing the changes in my clients. That brings me the happiness and gives me the financial freedom to have passions and pursue dreams without wanting to create income from them.  This is a very different approach.

Being driven isn't being passionate.  You have a value sitting within you that people are asking for and you probably don't even see.  One of the tests that I use is asking the question: What is it that people come to you for that you gladly do for free?

That isn't your passion, but it can be your value.  Even though you don't charge for it, you might be able to.  In my case I can charge a lot for it.  The work itself doesn't actually bring me any happiness. It brings me great financial rewards.  What brings me the happiness is the change that my work makes for my client.

Passion isn't the driving factor, serving my clients is.  I am always taking classes to get better in every area of my life an business.  My passion for life has infected my work, so people mistake my drive for passion.  Trust me when I say, my passions are very very expensive hobbies which only take money out of my bank account.  No one is offering me money to do them.  I have tried, and been paid, but never enough to survive, never mind maintain my lifestyle.

When you aren't sure what that value is, try it all.  One might hit a spark and light a fire inside you.  You might start a few fires.  Maybe people are saying you should be a personal shopper because you have a great sense of style.  Try it and charge for it.  See if the income lights a little fire within you.

The world isn't about money, but every time I see someone get good money for stuff they were doing for free, there is no mistaking or hiding the excitement.  The first time an actor is paid, the first time a lawyer wins a big case, the first time a race car driver wins a big check all change how that person looks and the energy they project to the world.  Guess what happens next, like an addiction, they keep doing it.

In my case I didn't figure it out until I tried the "guru's" way three times.  Thankfully I broke the code before I tried a fourth time.

You might not know your value right now, but come back often or sign up for one of my "break out" classes and find your values.  We all have more than one, and the trick is finding one that pays enough to make life fun.  What are the values that you bring to the world?

How To Get More Work With Less Effort.

Can you really get more work with less effort?  The simple answer is yes.  That is the whole point of the focused approach.  When you get really good at one thing, that one thing will bring you all of the work you want.  In fact it will bring you work that you don't expect.

Since last September, my wife has been a background actress.  In some ways you can say I am now too.  The difference is most of her income is money from acting where mine isn't.  Acting would be like a third or fourth place after marketing, training and writing.

The funny thing about it is that I get about half the work that she does with zero effort.  She works very hard at it and is much better than I am.  Speaking on stage is acting, but acting is way harder than speaking on stage.  On stage when I give presentations, I don't care where the camera is and the audience is always there.

Last week we saw two events that are worth discussing in this blog.  First we went to Long Beach to work on a TV show where people from the audience get to speak on TV and give their opinion on camera.  Half of the people were background actors filling in.  It is a way for non-union actors to get some speaking practice on camera.

On Set & In Wardrobe

Most of the regular patrons and background actors were very normal and talked about the product as if two friends were asking each other for advice.  One couple, turned up the acting and really went all out to pick it apart.  The whole room stopped and stared.  The interviewer jumped up and walked out of the room, talked to the director and the interviews were abruptly ended.

Just prior to that we went to Burbank California to meet some casting directors.  There we witnessed another exchange I thought would be worth understanding.  I already posted this on Facebook because I thought it was so important as a lesson in business and life.

A woman in her mid twenties with tattoos all the way down her arms, commonly called gang sleeve's, and those tribal ear hole enlargers, which she called "ear plugs", was asking for more roles as a conservative parent, office worker, lawyer or detective.  Roles my wife gets regularly, and since we aren't parents, she always wonders why they pick her to be a parent.

The woman went on to explain how she has a great wardrobe of "conservative" clothes and has "tricks" to hide her tattoos and ear plugs.  She spent another couple of minutes trying to convince the casting directors to use her more for those roles.

Politely the first casting director said that there are thousands of people that want those jobs and it is easier to pick the ones that don't have tattoos and ear plugs because there is less of a chance the director will send them home and be mad at the casting director.

The woman argued for another couple of minutes.

A second casting director responded, "With all of the shows that allow tattoos and ear plugs why don't you just submit for those?  Looking around the room, you are the only one here that fits that role. "

The woman didn't know.  It is possible that the woman was "conservative" and the ink and ear plugs were just bad choices.  More likely, the ink and ear plugs were a reflection of her real personality.  She looked very comfortable with them, and arguing about them.  My advice would be, don't argue with your boss before they hire you, but that isn't the point here.

Both of the casting directors basically said the same thing.  You will get more work with less effort if you just be the best "you" that you can be.  That is true in any field of work.  If you are in the wrong line of work, the best "you" will eventually find a way to move on to where you belong, or someone will recognize your talent and take you there.

My wife also began to understand that as an 18 year veteran of elementary school classrooms, she is the "look" that Hollywood likes to use as a parent and she is great with kids making her the perfect TV "parent".  She also has an MBA and Real Estate License with a great business wardrobe.  When she gets to the set to be a lawyer or detective, wardrobe is always happy and never has to find her clothes and dress her up.  It makes everyone's job easy when she just takes roles as herself.

Last November, I was standing with Jerome Hamilton, so I asked what I could do to move up the food chain.  He said 'Brother, you just keep doing what you are doing.  Look around at the rest of the background, you'll get there faster than you think."  15 minutes later he was right.  I got an upgrade.

Don't get caught up worrying about getting ahead the way other people get ahead.  Look in the mirror and be the best that you can be, enjoy your life as you and things will happen.

Follow the Rules or Make the Rules, What Do You Do?

Rules and structure are a funny thing in business. On any given day you can pick up a business magazine and read about someone who is successful by creating rules and processes like Henry Ford invented the assembly line.  The same magazine will have an article about some guy who is successful who didn't follow any of the rules.  So which is it?  What is an up a coming business owner to do?

The great thing about business is you can do either.  The important trick is to look in the mirror and really understand who you are.  If you are a risk taker that never follows the rules like Steve Jobs and Wozniak, you might build the next Apple.  If you understand the rules of the game like a young Bill Gates did, you might create the next Microsoft.  I don't think any of those three will ever be labeled as "unsuccessful" or worried about money.

Most people have been conditioned to be the worker bees.  They show up, learn the rules, do the job and leave.  If that is all you want out of life, stop reading.

Some of us haven't bought into the whole "be happy with what you've got" philosophy and are always looking for a way to improve our own lives. Simply put that happens one of two ways.  The first way is the Apple way, don't follow anyone, blaze new trails and do things differently.  These people and companies are the high risk high flyers that change the world and how we see things every day.

The second method is the structured approach.   Follow the rules and make incremental improvements.  Test the changes and move forward with those that work.  There are a few Microsoft fans out there rolling their eyes wondering how they got into this category.  After all hasn't Microsoft changed our world too.

The answer is yes and there in lies the answer.  You can be successful by managing and owning very low risk businesses like the family that owns In-N-Out.  They didn't change the burger business, they just made it clean and simple.  No chicken, no fish, no frozen foods ever, well except the milk shakes.

Microsoft was created after Bill Gates acquired the rights to an operating system and then smartly followed the rules laid down by IBM.  His competitor was "busy" and didn't follow IBM's rules.  Bill got in the door and got the deal.  DOS likely became a household word because of that one event.  If the other guy had answered the call, we might all be using CP/M or whatever the other guy had.  Microsoft has been making incremental changes to DOS ever since.  Windows was an add on to DOS.

Apple on the other hand changes everything from the inside out, every time they change something.  Check out the article in Fast Company about Steve Jobs this month, and read about how the iMac almost never existed.  While you are there read about Homeboy Industries too.

Figure out where your strength is, structure, tweaking structure or breaking structure then set your sites on a target that is just out of reach today and go for it.  Never stop, never give up, never quit, just keep moving towards the target whatever it may be.

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.

How To Do More By Doing Less

There is a saying that “If it were easy, everyone would do it.”  Last night I was watching the Amazing Race.  It was interesting to watch a team try and land a LearJet simulator.  As an experienced pilot I found it remarkable how frustrated the teams got.  The last place team took twelve try’s and that was just a landing, no emergencies or bad weather.

Before I could laugh at the teams results, my wife said “Wow, I could never do that!”  and she has been in simulators.  Having nearly 12,000 hours of practice flying airplanes and simulators, I am pretty confident I could have done it in one try.  Two at worst, and if it took two I would be pretty embarrassed.  If asked to fill in for one of the teams like a “phone a friend” I would have gladly stepped in because after all of my years of practice it would be relatively easy for me to do.

Many books have been written on mastering a skill with 10,000 hours of practice.  The idea is that if you do anything for 10,000 hours you will be pretty good at it.  There are two other factors though.  One is natural talent.