As I’m watching the Olympic Games, I’m just absolutely amazed at the mental toughness that these athletes have.

Can you imagine preparing your entire life for this one moment.  As in most of these athletes cases it really all comes down to a moment.

Yesterday, Lolo Jones from United States, hits a hurdle with her leg in a 100m women’s hurdle.

The thing is that she was on track to be first and get the gold.  She finished first in U.S. Trials, and was clearly a contender for the medal.

As a result of this moment, a minor mistake of either not raising her leg to high, or starting the jump too soon, she finished 7th.

Or you watch these gymnasts who are seem like they’ve got springs in their feet, as they do triple somersaults and land on one leg on a beam, and all of a sudden they fall or a small balance check shaves points right off and the medal goes to someone else.

The thing is that every one of these athletes have superior ability.  Incredible strength and perseverance.

They’ve done their routine thousands and thousands of times.

They’ve visualized the successful accomplishment and the outcome, and one little nano-second can be the difference that gets them the gold or nothing.

And yet they gracefully get themselves up and keep going.  What’s more is that a lot of them push themselves harder to be back in 4 years and do even better.

Now you think about the world that we live in.  I mean the business world where we get to perform every single day.

It doesn’t come down to any one moment does it?

The Olympians have one shot at the gold.  We don’t.

Everyday you have the opportunity to go for the gold in your business.  Everyday we have choices we can make that can move us forward.

If you make a mistake, don’t get the deal, lose a client, your ad fails, or whatever…. so what?

What’s the worst that can happen?  Nothing?  So be it.  You pick yourself up and do it again, and again, and again.

There’s no trials to compete in.  There are no judges that deduct points whether fairly or unfairly.

There’s just a marketplace and they vote with their wallets.

For a long time I was quiet mediocre in sales.  But I’ve drilled this thought into my head.  “There are people out there.  Whether I do anything or not, they will buy financial products from someone.  So what do I have to do to get them to buy from me?”

And I held this thought for a long time, reminding myself of that every time something didn’t go my way.

It led me to believe that:

1.    It’s possible
2.    That I can do it.

It also led me to get better in sales, take courses, read books, excel in communication.  And I developed this almost cocky confidence that I’m good.  My belief level changed and so did my results.

How can you do the same?

Does your market have room for one more?  If you’ve been affected by the economy, look deep into your niche and be brutally honest with yourself.  Is it you or the marketplace.  Are there others who are doing great, and it’s something you can model, or do you need to go into a different niche?

Maybe that’s the answer.  The brilliance of marketing is not trying to create a need and force the market to conform to your wants and needs, but rather to tap into an existing one and get better at providing that.

And even if you make a mistake, and we all do, time and time again, as long as we have more wins than losses, than we too get to take home the gold.

And we don’t have to wait 4 years for that one shot.

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Today I’d like to share with you something that I see missing in so many marketing campaigns.

If you’ve been trying to break into the internet marketing world, you probably get daily emails about new product launches.

It seems as though every day there’s a new “magic” pill that comes out that will flood your bank account with money without you having to lift a finger.

And a lot of these marketers have carefully crafted their sales messages to make them so compelling that it’s hard to resist.

But there’s one thing that I see missing in most, not all, but most of these campaigns.

I guess, I was lucky that I’ve spent over 10 years in direct selling before going online, because in that world you had to have it.

It’s also one of the reasons why I was able to develop a large client base in my old business, that still calls me today to do more business with me even though I haven’t done a damn thing to promote my other business in almost 3 years.

Would you like to know what it is?

It’s Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Copywriting, Information Marketing, Marketing, Videos | No Comments »

One of the questions that often comes up from people is – ‘how do I get started?’

It’s also one of the things I’ve noticed about a good majority of people who take courses, go to seminars and try to educate themselves in new areas.

They get all this knowledge but some fear inside of them keeps them from starting.

In training dozens of people in the financial services industry, I’ve seen the same thing happen.  They would attend all the trainings and learn everything about business, sales, and financial strategies, except most wouldn’t get started.

A few days ago I wrote a post about the #1 reason why people fail to get started.

You can read it here.

Today I’d like to share with you a follow up to that.

In one of the comments about my “dog” post, someone said that there needs to be a training program for people transitioning from a J-O-B to an entrepreneur.

It’s true that most people who take a shot at the free life of an entrepreneur, focus basically on the freedom without having a specific schedule of things to do.

Who can blame them?

After all, they’re used to the 9-5 mentality, of coming to work at a specific time, going to lunch and finishing also at a specific time.  They’re told what to do, from school through college, and then for 10, 20, 0r 30 years at their jobs.

Then one day they get the freedom of not having to show up anywhere and no one to report to.

And that’s just half of the problem.

The other half, is that all these years they’ve been told very specifically what to do, and now there’s no one to tell them what to do.

They have to CREATE work.  And this the biggest challenge of all.

Most people aren’t used to creating work, they’re used to processing it.  Even at a high level corporate positions.

Now you see, I was lucky.  I started on my own very early in life, and I didn’t develop this bad habit of processing work.

I knew I had to go create it.

So what’s the best way to get started and get yourself moving?

One of my mentors early on in my career, said something very profound that has been forever burned in my mind.

He said, “Where do you start?  Take Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Law of Attraction, Marketing | No Comments »

Here’s a very profound idea about marketing your business.

This one could make all the difference in your response and how people perceive you.

Before I share it with you, I assume you do want to grow your business and your bottom line, right?

Let me illustrate it for you out of my own file cabinet of experiences in sales.

In my previous life, I had to call a lot of prospects and set up appointments to go see them.

Now who likes getting a phone call at their home from a sales person. And then having that sales person come to their house and sit there trying to sell them something (even if it’s good for them and they need it).

So I had to always make it look like NOT a sales situation. Of course when I start talking to them about coming over and meeting with them to discuss their financial situation, they knew that it was going to be a sales call, BUT I always made it look like a very casual experience.

On the phone I would tell them that I’d like to pop by and share some ideas with them. Same ideas that I shared with their friends who thought that you would benefit tremendously by taking a look at it.

When I came over, I always dressed business casual, never a suite. That’s a big no, no. Someone in a suite with a briefcase, has SALESMAN written all over him.

I would talk to them about them and their kids. I’d ask them some questions about their goals and dreams, to make them very comfortable with me, and only then I would go into some of the details of what I do.

I would do everything in my power to make it look like I’m not there to sell them anything.

Let’s go back to your marketing.

Look at your marketing material, however you market. Whether it’s a sales letter, a website, or an ad in the paper.

Does it have SALESPERSON written all over it? Does it smell like someone trying to sell you something?

The minute they sense sales, they’re gone forever never to return again. And you’ve just wasted an opportunity to tell your story.

So look over your pieces, and see how can you make it stand out, and yet be inviting and non-threatening.

Don’t worry about making huge claims and big promises. Everyone does that. Be different and unique.

Make it look valuable.

Posted in Copywriting, Marketing, Uncategorized | No Comments »

I’m spending the entire month of June in Florida with my family.

We were in the Universal Studios’ City Walk, as we decided to go to Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant.

I’ve never been to that restaurant, and since I’m a seafood lover, that’s a great place to visit.

The food was excellent, the service was really outstanding, at great prices too.

Dan, our waiter would stop by literally every 5 minutes or so, just to check up on us.

But here’s an interesting observation.

This guy was so smooth like no other waiter I’ve ever seen.

He started off with the usual, here’s our special of the day, and here are the drinks I recommend … Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Marketing, Sales | No Comments »