Category Archives: Business

Business, Commentary

Discipline rules, everything else drools

What makes a business person successful? Is it using the best technology? Being able to write the best copy? Making the greatest advertising or the most interesting speeches? Are these the secrets for business success?

Having great skills is indeed helpful, but that is not what tends to lead to success. Many business people have become successful without the best skills, nor access to those who do. One may build the best marketing campaign the world has ever seen, but it will not guarantee results.

Access to the tools and training are requirements to get started, but they will not continue a person onward. The best coaching, the best materials, even the best products only do so much and then more is needed.

There is something missing.

Donald Trump build his financial wealth more than once. Colonel Sanders was in his 60’s and shared his idea for chicken to more than 1,000 people before finding a yes. Do you think Richard Branson just lucked into his success? What of Martha Stewart or Oprah? Just shear luck? Were they born into their positions? Gift from the government?

All of these successful people came from different walks of life and have vastly different business. All of them share at least one trait. This is the trait that powers them on. This is the trait that really matters. They have discipline.

Discipline is what keeps a business person on course will all seems lost. Discipline is what drives and continuously motivates people to succeed. It simultaneously satisfies their hunger and keeps them wanting more. It is what kept getting them up in the morning when all that could be seen was drudgery. It also kept them up at night plugging away at their goals.

Discipline inspires. Disciplines does take no. Disciplines produces. Discipline is what differentiates the 3% from everyone else. It captivates. It encourages. It feeds on itself. Discipline begats discipline begats discipline. There is no magic formula. There is no get-rich-quick path. Discipline rules and everything else drools.

Business, Commentary

Visualize Your Goal, But Do It SMART

Being able to fully visualize your goal is very important. It expresses fully, in every part of your being, what you really and truly want. Realize these goals by being SMART.

SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely.

Specific

  • Goals are not written in generalities, they are written to a certain objective. They must be clear and concise.

Measurable

  • There is a saying, “What gets measured gets done.” Obtaining a goal requires a list of tasks and milestones, and a way to measure both progress and success. If nothing is measured, then there is no constraint, no feeling of urgency, no pressure. Ergo, no progress.

Attainable

  • Getting a goal to go from coach potato to a 4 minute mile in 6 weeks is beyond unreachable. Set goals that doable, even if they are accomplished quickly. Just set a new goal and keep moving the bar. Set smaller goals in line to met a larger objective. Set reward points at milestones to keep yourself motivate.

Relevant

  • Along with attainability comes relevance. Setting a reachable goal of eating less food when you are trying to increase sales has little relation. How does the reaching of the smaller goal help in obtaining the larger? Perhaps a better goal is generating more leads or better quality leads. Maybe less time spent “shooting the breeze” or working on your mindset, those are far more relevant.

Timely

  • Placing a goal so far out makes the goal have less value. Again no urgency is provided and no pressure will be felt. Place a date on delivery. Commit to it. The time frame must be balanced with the attainability.

Learn to use SMART in building your goals. Set several related goals out. Measure progress to them and do them in a timely fashion. Balance your expectations and increase your efforts. You can reach them.

Business, Commentary

Legitimate. Is it just a slogan?

Browse a simple search for legitimate business opportunities, one might wonder if such a thing exists. There are all manner of promises and ideas. Some will start “FREE” with a “FREE SITE” just for you, but only if you act now. Others speak of how simple it is and how quickly money can be made. Keep clicking and the order pages never seem to end. So much noise, so little meaning. Is any of it real? Or has legitimate been reduced to a slogan? A way to get SEO up?

I’ve been there in those businesses. Sure, I cannot say to have tried them all as there are some many. Some do work, but many do not. It seems it is more profitable to sell programs on how to make money on the Internet that it is to actually make money on the Internet. The programs that start cheap do not have the support nor the education to get new people started. The more expensive ones do, but any program, no matter how great, is limited by the work ethic of the participant. There is no quick way, it all takes work.

Too many have a lottery mentality these days. Buy a ticket at the local store and win $100 million dollars in some multi-state super drawing. Yes, there are a select few who win those, but most people who have built wealth for themselves and their families worked very hard. There is no such thing as a free lunch, unless you work for Congress, someone always pays. When that someone is you and you are working in a proven program with the necessary support and education, you will succeed. You do the work and you get the rewards.

Ask anyone who owns a business. Do they run it or does it run them? In the latter case, it is more likely due to a poor business plan, support system or a product whose market is too saturated, or perhaps combinations of all three. For those who run their business, they have learned what works, they have a system that has properly trained them and they have a product that is wanted and sells well.

Yes, everyone uses soap and shoes, but when was the last time you bought some from a man knocking on your door? When is the last time a new hamburger franchise opened near you? Yeah, never. Those markets are so saturated, a new player cannot be seen through all the mist. There is no angle that will stick. The work will be very hard and lead to nowhere. How can you follow Sam Walton’s advice and swim upstream? It is a torrent. Find a new stream.

It is for these reasons that Carbon Copy Pro was created. It has the support and training to get you started and on a road to success. It is a legitimate business and is for those seeking to build wealth. It is not get rich quite. It takes work and dedication, but the rewards are yours. You grow and you finish rich.

***Copied from original blog***

Business

Why am I here?

Why am I here? For that matter, why is anyone here? Why be in a business of your own? Why start? Why leave a job that is secure? Why take the chance?

The “why” is one of the first questions one must answer when getting into business. When first asked, many will answer with “to make more money” or “to have more time” or “control my own destiny.” Nice back of the milk carton answers, but they are not deep enough. Think deeper. Get a why you can see before you. Get an image that burns in your  mind so deeply that nothing will get in your way.

Your “why” becomes your passion. It becomes something that will attract others to you. It becomes the reason they want to join you. It becomes the power that enables them to reach their “why”. It is the seed that becomes contagious. It grows throughout your group to overcome all adversity. It becomes the over reaching goal that WILL be obtained.

Find your “why”. It is yours. It is no one else’s. It is passion. It is the start of your brand.

Business

Game On!

Game on! A call to start. A call to be ready. A call to reconnect and get serious. A call to refocus. A video?

The sporting expression many times is used in life by one to show another that now things are serious. Another expression, “Bring it on!” has some similar meanings. Let’s start and let’s win! It’s time to get the game on.

In season four of the hit web serious “The Guild,” the expression is used in the “let’s play” context to get Codex to get on-line and play. What follows is an addictive Bollywood style sing-along, complete with elephant. It showcases some of the other talents of the cast and is a favorite among the show’s fans. It is great fun.

Lead to get started in your business, having the “Game On!” attitude will lead to success. It is a never quit, always persevere notion. It is rare that games are won on the first play, same with business. Leaders rise to the top through their own sweat and tears. It is the never stopping that brings results, regardless of showing weakness.

Keep moving. Keep pressing on toward you goals. Get it done and push forward. Don’t worry about cracks and go around obstacles. The idea is to be unbreakable, not perfect, not insincere, not giving up.

Business

Being Gracious in Anger

The Internet is a fickle place. Use a great deal of effort to make a good name for yourself and it could be gone in an instant. The Internet has a long memory for the negative and very short for positive words for your and your business. Bad customer reviews are one thing, but words of anger from you are far more damaging.

Ever been wronged by a business? Perhaps a repair technician didn’t show up when scheduled or an install didn’t go well. Once a complaint was filed, the business didn’t generate much of an effort to fix the situation. The Internet has many places where one can find some measure of solace by writing a scathing review. Too many of such reviews and one might become known as a grave complainer.

Being gracious in anger is a trait not easily acquired. It takes a tender spirit mixed with the heart of the bulldog. The ideal is not to be a simple doormat, but not to be the barking hag. Be stern, but not overbearing. It is a spirit that is slow to overheat, but quick in seeking resolution. It pushes toward a solution and brings others with along, not as reluctant bystanders, but as engaged participants.

Think as though you are the one receiving the anger. How would you respond to someone full of venom and fire? Would you be willing to understand and resolve their problem? Now imagine the complaint is being given from someone obviously annoyed, but graciously anxious to resolve the issue. Would you be far more willing to resolve the issue? Maybe even feel as though you had helped a great deal. That is being gracious in anger. That is how to direct your energies properly.

Business

Finding a new home

In an effort to differentiate myself more and to concentrate this plug on improving the future of your business, the decision has been made to move this blog to a different domain and server. Still using WordPress, this blog will become more proficient to the business oriented reader. The old blog will still be around and some articles will make their way here, perhaps with a fresh coat of paint.

Moving forward is the name of the game and is the way a business will survive. When the cheese is moved, the smart mouse goes and finds it. No need to sit idly by and wonder where it went or dream about finding it, or worse, complain at its unfairness. Both blogs will continue, so enjoy them. And for those who want to know my other passions, visit my two beer oriented blogs on Cincinnati Craft Beer and beer in general.