The real reason success is so elusive (Hint: It's not fear of success.)

The real reason success is so elusive (Hint: It's not fear of success.)
I'm guessing you spend a certain amount of time
daydreaming...

Daydreaming of what it will be like when you hit 'the big
time.' When your finances are really abundant. When you
become well-known in your field. When you make that next
big step, whatever it is.

Dreams of lolling around on silk sheets with peeled grapes
and fizzy drinks. Dreams of giving away as generously as
you've always wanted to. Dreams coming true.

Why are those dreams so elusive?

Comfort is the problem.

Living those dreams seems so... comfortable, doesn't it?
Having all you need, an abundant generosity, and so forth.
Living the good life, you would think, is very comfortable.

But, it's not. At least not at first.

How can that be? Well, let's look at what comfort is.
Merriam-Webster defines comfort, in part, as "Contented
well-being. A satisfying or enjoyable experience."

For most of us, contented well-being, or a satisfying or
enjoyable experience has to do with familiarity. When
things are familiar, we tend to be more comfortable. The
more unfamiliar things get, the less comfortable we become.

Get into a situation that's very unfamiliar, and you can
end up feeling panicked, overwhelmed, disoriented. Don't
believe me?

Not all parties are fun.

Let's say you're invited to a party. And you get dressed up
in the best you have. But, when you show up, everyone is
dressed even better. Black tie, tuxedos, evening gowns.
Caviar everywhere. What's more, you don't really know
anyone.

Would you have what it takes to stand on the threshold of
that party, see all the tuxedos, the unfamiliar faces, to
look down at yourself as underdressed, and still walk in?

I bet that you could muster up what it takes. But I'm also
betting that you'd feel uncomfortable, not having fun,
until you found someone you liked in a comfortable corner,
and started to settle down.

As human beings, we can only handle so much unfamiliarity,
before the adrenalin overwhelms us, and we start to shut
down.

Success is uncomfortable.

If you have goals you are wanting to reach, then, by
definition, you aren't there yet. You live in your life as
it is now, and your daydreams, your successful life is
somewhere else. Maybe even somewhere you've never been.

It's unfamiliar territory. Which means, by definition, that
it's uncomfortable.

Personal success story: Fear and overwhelm.

You can ask my mastermind group what happened to me when
Heart of Business started flying financially. Joy and
celebration? Easy street?

No way, Jose. A strange, unnerving feeling in my belly and
my chest. Disorienting. An inclination to sob at times,
without knowing exactly why.

It took a couple of months to re-orient, and feel
comfortable in our new surroundings.

How do you get up the nerve to enter the success party?

Well, a Sufi teaching leads the way. Read:

Keys to Success

• Sufi teaching: The ego clings to comfort. The heart seeks
truth.

It's tempting to believe that if it's comfortable, then
you're on your path. But if you're attached to feeling
comfortable, you may not get yourself into the party.

For you, it may be more comfortable to forget the fancy
party and go get a hamburger. Don't do this- go into the
party, even if you're uncomfortable!

People go get the hamburger all the time. If your business
has a month where a lot more money than you're used to
comes in, watch for your tendency to spend it quickly, on
things you can't even remember.

That kind of spending brings you back down to what you're
used to: not having as much, which, despite how
uncomfortable that can be, it has the trump card: the
comfort of being familiar.

See if you notice any impulsive moves you make to cling to
comfort, that move you away from success.

• How to tell truth.

Think of something challenging that you've accomplished
lately, something that just 'felt right' to do. Something
that took courage, or effort.

Take a moment and feel the effort and the struggle that you
put into accomplishing it. Then, take a moment and ask to
feel in your heart the truth of the situation.

Truth has a timeless quality that goes beyond the action or
accomplishment in the moment. You can find a subtle settled
feeling of 'rightness' in your heart, despite the struggle.

In moments of struggle or discomfort, take time with your
heart to see if that 'rightness' is present. If it is, keep
going. If it isn't, maybe you can stop struggling.

• Knowing when you need comfort.

If you spend too much time out of your comfort zone, your
ability to grow and learn becomes impaired, as you go into
overwhelm. Without comfort, true healing isn't possible.
Luckily, there are ways to get comfort, without veering
from the truth.

In the fancy party, you can take a break by going out into
the garden alone, or going into the bathroom. This will
give you a chance to catch your breath, and to take
assurance that you do belong here- just look at your
handwritten invitation! ;)

On your way to business 'success,' however you define it,
if you notice yourself starting to panic or freak out,
don't go running out and get the hamburger. Instead take a
bathroom break.

First let yourself be conscious of your need for comfort,
and take a moment to ask your heart, "What will help to
comfort and soothe me, without taking me away from truth?"

Whatever you get, do that until the comfort comes in and
you can calm down.

Ahhh... now, to continue on your way to success.

----------------------------------------------------
Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your
Business: How Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your
Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your Bottom Line.
He has helped hundreds of small business owners around the
globe succeed in business without lousing their hearts. Get
three free chapters of the book online:
http://www.heartofbusiness.com

Be Aware of Where You Stand to Learn How to Accomplish 20 Times More

Be Aware of Where You Stand to Learn How to Accomplish 20 Times More
A 2,000 percent solution is any way of accomplishing 20
times more with the same time, effort, and resources. How
do you develop such great improvements?

Follow these steps:

1. Understand the importance of measuring performance.

2. Decide what to measure.

3. Identify the future best practice and measure it.

4. Implement beyond the future best practice.

5. Identify the ideal best practice.

6. Pursue the ideal best practice.

7. Select the right people and provide the right motivation.

8. Continually repeat the first seven steps.

In this essay, I'll focus on the first step

Measurements Help Erase Complacency

Most people view the measuring process too narrowly. Here's
an example: A corporate planner went to a seminar given by
corporate strategist Peter Drucker. The planner asked
Drucker to pick the best single measure of corporate
performance. Drucker replied, "My dear sir, you obviously
know nothing. There is no single measure of corporate
performance that is any good. Use them all and try to
develop new ones, and each will teach you something you
need to know." Drucker's point was that measurements are
highly subjective and imperfect. Would-be stallbusters are
going to need lots more measures.

I'd Rather Not Know That!

One CEO tells another Peter Drucker story about
measurements. Drucker had presented a seminar on personal
improvement to the CEO's U.S. Air Force group years
earlier. Each man was instructed to measure in great detail
how he spent his time for a week. The CEO found this task
to be a life-changing experience. The measurements revealed
all of his bad habits and put the CEO on guard to avoid
those bad habits. Unfortunately, this CEO's example is
rarely followed.

Try this exercise for yourself. Measure how much time you
spend each week on the telephone, doing each routine task,
commuting, watching reruns on television, and so forth.
Then look at how much you accomplished. You will see that
measurements can help redirect your efforts into more
productive activities.

A Perpetual Measuring Machine

Visitors to the finance and data processing staffs of a
large company were astonished to note that each cubicle's
walls were literally covered with performance measurements.
The idea was to encourage more focus on expanding
productivity. Almost all of the measurements had been
developed by the workers for their own use. By looking at
each others' measurements, staff members could see how well
they were doing in comparison. People pitched in to help
lower performers improve so that everyone could earn
department-wide, performance-based bonuses.

How did they do? Personal productivity gains of 25 percent
were not unusual. Furthermore, corporate productivity in
these same areas grew by a similar degree. By comparison,
most organizations shoot for 2 to 3 percent annual
productivity increases. Those low targets telegraph to
everyone that they can take it easy.

End Results Versus Causes

Management of a luxury hotel chain learned that guests were
dissatisfied because it took too long for room service
breakfast orders to arrive. The chain jumped in to solve
the problem. It added more room service waiters. It even
added more kitchen staff. But the situation got worse, not
better. Finally, they looked at how long it took for a
waiter to make a delivery and return to the kitchen. Wait!
Here was something. The round trips took much too long.
Management asked the room service waiters why. The
bottleneck was quickly spotted. The waiters were delayed by
as much as eight minutes by slow elevator arrivals at the
kitchen and the guest room floors.

What was going on? Housekeepers were delivering a day's
worth of clean sheets and towels at the same time. Since
housekeepers had to unload large amounts of linen on each
floor, they usually stopped the elevators while the
unloading occurred.

Understanding the cause, linen deliveries were rescheduled
to another time. Room-service complaints dropped to near
zero.

With enough of the right measurements to find the causes of
your performance, you'll soon be working on the right
things, too.

Almost Perfect Is Often Not Good Enough

After many American manufacturers found that their quality
badly lagged non-American competitors in the 1980s, quality
improvement became an obsession. Soon, many companies were
bragging that they performed at Six Sigma levels (hardly
any errors per million activities). Closer examination
suggested that some of these companies had missed the boat.
They had only achieved being nearly perfect in delivering
outmoded offerings. Motorola, for instance, the renowned
Six Sigma innovator, saw its profits evaporate in the 1990s
when the company fell behind Nokia and others in delivering
new digital technologies to the market.

Some companies also didn't know how to measure their
performance. They broke down every process into hundreds of
aspects. Each aspect was measured for performance. Sure
enough, almost all aspects were done perfectly more than
99.9 percent of the time. Everyone was smiling … except the
customers. As measured by what customers cared about,
deliveries were deficient almost half the time. What was
going on? It turns out that those little errors across
hundreds of aspects compound and can cumulatively hit the
customer hard. The firm should have been primarily
measuring its ultimate performance for customers and then
looking selectively into detail to locate where large
strides could be made.

A key business lesson is that excellence is a moving
target. When you satisfy the customer in one area, you need
to move your attention to other wellsprings of
dissatisfaction. Many organizations forget to move on to
the next area of concern.

In the unending mantra heard in many organizations to serve
customers better, it's easy to forget that there are other
stakeholders. Be sure to check how you are doing for them,
too. If employees hate working for you, customer service
won't be very good either.

Be cautious in your measurements. Small experiments may
work simply because of the Hawthorne Effect: Performance
may improve simply because you've made a change, rather
than because of what the change is. Stop making changes,
and performance will often drop off again. Now, management
pros understand that you have to check your tests to be
sure that improvements will be lasting.

Tailor Your Measurements to Fit

Measurements may need to be improved with adjustments. For
instance, farm tractors cost a lot more now than they did
in the 1930s, but they also do a lot more. If you measure
cost per tractor, it looks like productivity declined. If
you measure by cost per acre plowed in inflation-adjusted
dollars, the cost of plowing has gone down substantially.

Feedback Nourishes Learning

It's not enough to measure. You also have to learn from
what the measurements tell you. Then, when you can access
information that competitors lack, you can sneak ahead.
Here's an example: Dell Corporation leads in personal
computers and gains its orders through direct sales over
the telephone and the Internet. Its competitors sell
through wholesalers, value-added resellers, and stores.
Dell is learning moment by moment what features its
customers most want. Competitors have to use indirect,
after-the-fact measurements to estimate what Dell already
knows. Dell can be out testing a new insight from daily
measurements long before the competitors even know about
the new customer need. With each iteration of this
feedback, Dell's knowledge moves further ahead of
competitors. As a result of learning based on powerful
measurements, Dell was able to steam ahead of all its
well-known global competitors despite Dell's humble
beginnings in Michael Dell's college dormitory room.

STALLBUSTERS

Use Measurements to Improve Your Personal Effectiveness

Ask yourself the following questions to better allocate
your time and efforts:

• How could I avoid having to do the least productive tasks
at all and get better results?

• How else could I have gotten these tasks done to get
better results in less time?

• How could I delegate these tasks to others for better
results?

• How could I inexpensively automate these tasks and meet
my purposes?

• When was I effective?

• Why was I effective then?

• When was I ineffective?

• Why was I ineffective then?

• How much time am I spending on time wasters?

• How could I better spend the time I use on time wasters?

• What will be the benefits to me and others of spending my
time in these more productive areas?

Use Measurements to Improve the Effectiveness of Others

After you have acted on the answers to your personal
improvement questions, you will be prepared to be credible
as a helpful coach to others, especially with the answers
to the following questions:

• How can you interest other people in measurements?

• How can you help others set up and use helpful
measurements?

• How can the message about the value of properly using
measurements be spread even further?

Copyright 2007 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

----------------------------------------------------
Donald Mitchell is chairman of Mitchell and Company, a
strategy and financial consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is
coauthor of six books including The 2,000 Percent Squared
Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, and The 2,000 Percent
Solution Workbook. You can find free tips for accomplishing
20 times more by registering at:
=========> http://www.2000percentsolution.com .

Package Yourself to Shine

Package Yourself to Shine
Often I talk about public relations as being relationships
with your public. I believe building personal relationships
is critical to business success. Most people want to do
business with people that they like. One way of building
relationships is through your personal branding,
differentiating yourself from your competitors by being
you, and allowing that uniqueness to shine.

You are also the package, just like a product. What does
your package look like? How's the design, colour and look?
What message does your personal image send?

Your image is a bit like the weather. People notice when
it's extremely good or extremely bad. In person how you
shake hands, make eye contact, how you conduct yourself in
social situations and the clothes you choose to wear help
to build your personal brand. You need to take care of the
details.

Your clothes, appearance and grooming really are the
external image of your brand. What image are you projecting?

If we look at famous brands and the "look" they project
through their people, Virgin Blue, in Australia as an
example, has a strong corporate image of being friendly,
fresh and cheeky. Qantas on the other hand has an image
that is far more conservative, more corporate. Both
companies spend millions on getting their look right. Not
just the external branding of logos and signage but the
uniforms and image of the people within the organisations.

Everything is totally co-coordinated from the outfits to
the shoes, hosiery, earrings and luggage - it's a
coordinated professional look as they can't afford to have
anyone in those companies presenting negatively. Jetstar on
the other hand have a completely different image. It looks
more casual and down-market and portrays an image of being
cheap, no frills. So much so that the credibility and trust
of the airline is questioned. Jokes are made about its
inefficiency and safety record - although there is no
negative record to support those rumours.

Not all organisations have a uniform - but there is
definitely an underlying code of dressing particularly in
the corporate environment which is smart, polished and
professional.

Now having said that it doesn't mean we all need to look
and dress the same. By understanding the brand qualities
you want to project with the work you do and the customer
you want to attract you can create a look that is suitable,
creative and stylish to help you stand out.

To begin, write down some adjectives of the type of person
or brand you would like to be or project. Think of yourself
as the product you are designing a package for. Cut out and
collect some words, images and colours from magazines. Cut
out images of clothes and shapes that appeal to you and
reflect the words you have chosen for yourself. Create a
brand portfolio of ideas and visual examples. Establish a
strong visual image that is your blueprint.

As you do this exercise you will begin to discover your
style and what appeals to you. This is your logo - your own
personal brand. It is a very useful exercise as you can now
take your brand portfolio to an image consultant or a
photographer, graphic designer, web designer or any other
consultant who is helping you to build the brand and image
of your business.

Begin to think and feel your new brand image and live your
new image until it becomes part of you.

----------------------------------------------------
Sue Currie, the director of Shine Communications
Consultancy and author of Apprentice to Business Ace - your
inside-out guide to personal branding, is a business
educator and speaker on personal branding through image and
media. Sign up for free monthly tips on personal and
professional PR at
http://www.shinecomms.com.au/contactmanager/default.cfm
and learn more about how you can achieve recognition,
enhance your image and shine.

The Top 20 Most Powerful Secrets To Getting Rich

The Top 20 Most Powerful Secrets To Getting Rich
In business, there are those individuals that excel to
superstar levels and make millions upon millions of
dollars. And likewise, there are some who struggle for
years and make little if any money at all. Most of us
people are somewhere in the middle ground between the two.
The main difference between the successful people and those
who are not is that the successful people know something
that the others do not know. These are the so called
secrets to success.

Regardless of what business you are in, you should always
try to emulate the superstars or mentors. Go find them and
make them your friends. Read everything about them that you
can get your hands on. Do what the successful people do.
Copy and paste their strategies. That is not to say that
you will immediately vault up to superstar status, but your
results will almost certainly improve. It is a law that if
you copy and paste the successful people you will get
similar results irrespective of who you are.

Some of the powerful secrets that the superstars know and
practice are as follows:

* The market comes first: You must think about the group of
people you want to serve. For example, the people
struggling with being overweight. The product or service
that you want to give them comes second. You want to find a
huge market with a lot of potential to make a lot of money
fast.

* You must get the right kind of people who can help you.
You cannot do it alone. Successful people pay talented
people to take care of the details on their numerous
websites. They pay others to take care of the more mundane
day-to-day issues. This frees up their time to work on
items that they believe to be more important, like
advertising and marketing.

* Fight fear and adversity: Successful people set goals and
a plan on how to reach those goals. Then they get down to
do what they have to do inspite of fear, worry,
frustrations and disapointments. Nobody is sure about
tomorrow so you must focus on your goals and have faith
that you will reach them.

* Succesful people know the simple formula for making the
largest amount of money in the fastest period of time with
the least amount of effort. For example, it takes the same
amount of effort to make a $50 commission as compared to a
$5,000 commission.

In many cases, the difference between a successful business
and floundering one is a matter of small details. Diversify
and participate in several different niches one a time.
First concentrate all of your efforts in a single area,
then when it has made you money, hire somebody to maintain
it for you or automate it. Then move on to another niche
market. By diversifying your business among several
different sectors, your chances of achieving success are
considerably better.

Work hard and imitate those who are successful. By doing
that, you too have an opportunity to grow your Internet
business to levels you never dreamed possible. Keep in mind
that those who have achieved ultra successful status have
done so by working many long, hard hours. It was not handed
to them on a silver platter. Most have worked very hard and
earned every penny they have.

So, again, imitate those ultra successful individuals who
have made piles and piles of cash and someday, people new
to the business will emulate you.

----------------------------------------------------
The author has been marketing on the Internet for 12 years.
You can learn more about "The Top 20 Most Powerful Secrets
to Getting Rich" and how you can use these secrets to make
all the money you truly deserve by getting your copy of the
FREE $495 CD at:
http://www.hypertracker.com/go/JohnMuritu/SubmitYourArticle/

A Successful Business Owner's Dilemma:

A Successful Business Owner's Dilemma:
Business owners have many legitimate complaints these days:
taxes, regulations, competition (from home and abroad),
can't find good people. The list goes on and on. Always
has. Always will.

Yet the pride of the American capitalistic system is the
successful family business. These entrepreneurs have found
their way through, around or over the seemingly endless
obstacles to become a "successful business owner." An SBO
for short.

For the purposes of this article, SBOs have excess funds to
invest (other than back into the operation of their
business, which produced the funds in the first place).
Typically these excess funds are in one (or more) of three
places:
(1) still in the business,
(2) in their (or spouse's) name or
(3) in a qualified plan (profit-sharing, 401(k), IRA or
similar plan).

Over the years the quote that follows has been nicknamed
the SBO's lament: "I know how to make money in my business,
but when it comes to making money with my investment money,
either I don't have time to watch it, don't know how to
watch it or rely on my investment advisor. When the market
is up, my advisors do fine, when it's down they do lousy."

For the past couple of years, the lament usually ends with,
"Now the market is lousy (or down, or uncertain, or similar
words). What should I do?"

(Note: Yes, yes millions of Americans-other than SBOs-have
the same investment dilemma as SBOs: "Where do I invest my
money?")

Now, regular readers of this column know that your author
is a tax planner: finding legal ways to avoid all types of
taxes-particularly estate taxes. To do this requires-among
other things-getting my client's personal balance sheet.

Here's what I can tell you that the balance sheets reveal
about the investments of SBOs (and also other estate
planning clients). Their success (or failure) in the stock
market and a myriad of other investments, in general,
mirrors the Dow Jones: happy on the way up and painful on
the way down. Usually, real estate investments are a
winner.

Now what about that excess cash? Terrible results. Almost
always the investments are conservative: divided between
(1) CDs and money market funds,
(2) municipal bonds and
(3) a "zillion" variety of annuities.

After taxes and inflation, your net earnings on (1)
investments are typically less than 3%, sometimes even
negative. Those income tax free bonds, (2), not only have
a low rate of return, but fall in value when interest rates
rise. Annuities, (3), could fill a large book to describe
all the varieties and, most of all, the complaints from
clients. Never, not once, has a client told me that he/she
is happy with the results of an annuity. (I would like to
hear from a reader who has personally had a positive
experience with any annuity.)

As you can imagine, almost every estate planning
consultation with an SBO-and other clients-requires serious
consideration concerning the client's investments: safety,
risk, tax consequences, rate of return and other factors.
We discuss alternate investments, considering, among other
things profitability, risk and how taxed.

Currently, the most popular alternative investment is Life
Settlements. The following quote from "The Wall Street
Journal" and "USA Today" (and other sources) tells you why
LS are becoming such a popular investment. "Life
Settlements [has become a] trillion dollar industry
dominated by institutional investors including Berkshire
Hathaway (billionaire Warren Buffet's company), AIG and
CNA. Their pursuit of this market is related to the degree
of safety, high yields in excess of 15% per year and the
fact that a Life Settlement is not affected by market
forces."

"Life settlements are a very good option for the investor
that has as his or her investment philosophy a desire for a
secure, safe and "minimal risk" investment It is for your
"nest egg" money It is not considered a security by SEC.
Therefore it is not normally provided as an investment
option by stock brokers."

Of course, your question is "Can a little guy (as opposed
to an institutional investor) invest in LS. Yes, it's all
made possible by a small publicly traded (on the NASDAQ)
company. Its average rate of return an LS investments has
been 15.83% per year on average during the company's
16-year operating history.

15.83% annual rate of return, with minimal market risk is
available for cash (IRA, 401(k) or other qualified
retirement plan) is available. This is for Accredited
Investors only, not for the little guy'. -END OF ITEM-

----------------------------------------------------
Irv Blackman is both an experienced CPA and lawyer. He
founded Blackman & Kallick, the largest independent CPA
firm in Illinois, and is the founding Chairman of the Board
of New Century Bank of Chicago, Illinois. Please see:
http://www.taxsecretsofthewealthy.com to learn more. If you
want to contact Irv, please visit the website or call
888-278-3623.

7 steps to taking control of your time

7 steps to taking control of your time
One of the biggest obstacles to business success is
allowing yourself to feel at the mercy of time.

It's too easy to say "I don't have time" but you choose how
to spend your time and you can spend it wisely or badly.

Here are 7 ways in which you can take control of your time.

1. Stop inputting and start outputting

It's easy to be busy taking in new information and ideas
but it's only taking action on them that gets results. If
you're inputting information, you're not outputting real
work and making money. If you're an info junkie, perhaps
you need to go on an info diet.

2. Always remember why you are doing it

If you have set a clear vision for your business and
distinct milestones on your way to achieving it, you'll
find it much easier to manage your time.

If you are spending time on something that doesn't
contribute towards getting your goals, you have to
challenge yourself about why you are doing it.

3. Plan your day and stick to your plan

A minute spent planning can easily save you an hour later
on. You should set aside particular times every day, week
and month for planning. During this time, reflect on past
achievements and future goals.

The best way to schedule is to split large tasks into
smaller steps. It feels wonderful when you are able to tick
it off at the end of the day and works as a great motivator.

4. Prioritize your time

Prioritization is figuring out which tasks are most
important at a particular time and focus your attention,
time and energy on them.

This means recognizing the difference between 'important'
tasks (those that help us achieve our goals) and 'urgent'
ones (which demand immediate attention but may not be
related to our goals). Another important distinction is
recognizing the difference between 'productive' time (which
generates income) and 'unproductive' time (which makes no
money).

5. Say No ' to yourself as well as to others

The truth is, no matter how efficient you are, you can't do
everything. So, one of the most useful things you can do is
go through your 'to-do' list and decide what you don't
really need to do.

The management guru Peter Drucker said: "There is nothing
so useless as doing efficiently something which shouldn't
be done at all." Before you get into doing the things on
your to-do list, consider whether they'd be better on your
'not-to-do' list.

Learning to say no is a vital time management skill. People
much prefer to be told 'no' right away, rather than being
let down later.

6. Develop systems and processes

If you have your work organized into clear processes, it
makes it much easier to delegate. And, even if you're doing
the work yourself, writing down the steps involved helps
you use your time more efficiently. Productivity expert
William Edwards Denning said: "If you can't describe what
you're doing as a process, you don't know what you're
doing."

7. Take care of yourself

If you are going to get things done and also to enjoy the
lifestyle you want, you have to allocate time to doing
things that you enjoy and taking care of yourself
physically. Eat well, drink water, get plenty of sleep,
relax, and take time off.

If you have your own business and can't enjoy a great
lifestyle, then it's probably better to get a job.

----------------------------------------------------
Robert Greenshields is a marketing success coach who helps
business owners and independent professionals who are
frustrated that they're working too many hours for too
little reward. Sign up for his free tips on earning more
and working less at http://www.MindPowerMarketing.com

Job Interviewing and The Electric Toothbrush

Job Interviewing and The Electric Toothbrush
Many electric toothbrushes have a shut off mechanism that
turns off the toothbrush after two minutes of brushing -
which is the time that someone decided was enough
teeth-brushing for any one period.

Coincidentally, it turns out that two minutes (or less) is
the recommended time period for the desired length of any
one answer during the interview.

When answering an interview question it is best to be as
focused as possible so that you can be succinct and to the
point in as little time as possible - two minutes. . When
you ramble and bring in details that are not relevant to
the question, you lose your audience, who in this case is
your interviewer.

A successful answer to an interview question is one that
addresses the question asked and gets to the point while
not rambling. Here are two examples of answers to the same
question. Note how one question addresses the question, and
one rambles on and is not specific.

Question Asked: Can you give me an example of a time when
you worked on a project that required a great deal of
written communication?

Rambling Example:

"I've always been a good writer. My writing skills have
always been my strong point. I have been commended on my
writing ability in every performance review that I have
ever had. I am very good at researching facts and following
through on leads. In my last job I was involved in the
creation of our website by writing the content. That was a
great experience. Working closely with the designers, I was
able to contribute and add to the message that they were
trying to get across. Writing isn't the major focus of my
job responsibilities but I do like to write very much. I
have written some proposals and they have been received
very well. When I do have writing assignments it is usually
in addition to my regular job. I can tell you that whenever
I have had the opportunity to write I have received several
comments on what a good job I have done. In fact, I was
given an award for my writing skills as a team member on a
project that received a grant. I am looking at this job as
a chance to learn and develop my writing skills."

The listener - the interviewer probably had the idea that
you have strong writing skills after the first two lines,
but you kept be-laboring the point and adding irrelevant
facts.

Concise Two-minute Example:

"That would be when I took over the responsibility of
writing the department newsletter. This was my first
experience at coordinating a publication from start to
finish by myself. The first thing I did was to consult with
the people in the company that had written similar
newsletters. This gave me a sense of what to do and what
not to do. Next, I did an informal survey of company
employees, everyone from the support staff to the director
of the department. From their comments I came up with a new
idea of getting the people involved. Each month I hold a
writing contest and then publish the winner's stories. The
employee involvement has made a big difference in my
efforts. Recently, the newsletter was awarded "most
creative departmental newsletter."

You can see that the first question does not address the
question asked and has irrelevant information in the
answer. While the second answer gives a specific example of
a time when you had a writing experience - which is what
the question asked for.

A tip in interviewing is to take time to listen to the
question. Next, take time to process how you are going to
answer. Pre-interview preparation will make a significant
difference in your interview performance.

When you think about it, two minutes is a fair amount of
time for a person to give his full attention to what others
have to say. By sticking with the two-minute rule you will
find that you will keep your interviewer interested and
listening to your answer.

Start getting a sense of what you could say in two minutes
-maybe the next time you brush your teeth.

----------------------------------------------------
Carole Martin, America's #1 Interview Expert and Coach, can
give you interviewing tips like no one else can. Get a copy
of her FREE 9-part "Interview Success Tips" report by
visiting Carole on the web at http://www.interviewcoach.com

Business Card Basics

Business Card Basics
Making a great first impression often begins with your
business card. Your business card is typically the first of
your marketing materials that a new client will see. It
should clearly tell your client who you are and what you do
at first glance.

A business card is a convenient way to introduce yourself
at networking events, and it's key to passing your contact
information along when you meet someone.

Important elements to include when designing your business
card include:

- Your contact information, including your business mailing
address. Including a mailing address greatly increases your
credibility and makes you look much more established! If
you're concerned about privacy, a Post Office box or
mailbox is a great way to go.

- Your logo, as discussed in many of the other articles in
our library.

- Strong secondary graphics and design elements, which we
refer to as your visual vocabulary.

- A list of your services, which is especially important if
you offer multiple services or if your business name
doesn't specifically make clear what you do. Be concise
when creating this list, so that all of the relevant
information will fit on the business card. Combining these
elements will result in a business card that does more than
just pass along your contact information-it will also build
your brand.

The best practices for using your business card include:

- First of all, be sure that you carry your cards with you
at all times-keep a stack in your desk, your car, your
briefcase or purse, and your wallet. This will ensure that
you always have a card available when you meet someone who
should have one!

- Take your business cards with you to business meetings,
networking events, conferences, trade shows-everywhere you
go that's business related. And be sure to take some with
you to the gym, the grocery store-you never know where
you'll meet a potential client.

- Don't pass business cards out at random-wait until you've
made a connection with someone or until you've been asked
for it. Making a connection with a prospect will lead to a
sale far more often than just "dealing cards" to everyone
you meet.

- Include a copy of your card with correspondence or
packages-it automatically puts a "business spin" on all of
the mail you send out. It also provides a backup return
address, in case the envelope has been damaged or thrown
away.

- Give stacks of your cards to business partners and other
possible sources of referral and business partners, so that
they can hand them out when they're telling people about
your services-it makes the referral more likely to produce
results.

----------------------------------------------------
Erin Ferree is a brand identity and marketing design
strategist who creates big visibility for small businesses.
Through her customized marketing and brand identity
packages, Erin helps her clients discover their brand
differentiators, then designs logos, business cards, and
other marketing materials and websites to reflect that
differentiation, as well as to increase credibility and
memorability.

http://www.elf-design.com

Calculating the Value of Your Precious Selling Time

Calculating the Value of Your Precious Selling Time
Time, is our most precious resource. How are we to make the
most effective use of each twenty-four hour span? Most
people give little thought to the actual value of their
time, possibly not even during conventional working hours.
Entrepreneurs know better. We cannot afford to haphazardly
approach the workday. We must have a plan and execute it to
the best of our ability, leveraging time to our greatest
benefit.

Dave Navarro at Jonathan Phillips' Freelance Folder
proposes a thought-provoking method of accurately valuing
our time.

"Your time is worth exactly this much:

Cash Money / Hours Worked = Your Rockin' $DPH (Dollars Per
Hour)

Now, in the last 30 days, how much did you earn? Stop
reading, and think about this seriously. Don't read any
further until you do. How much cash crossed your hands (or
how many orders came in) in the last month? Stop and think
about it.

Now that you have that number firmly in mind, it's time to
get brutally honest. How many hours did you spend in the
last 30 days doing business tasks or business-ish tasks?

Translation: Business tasks = stuff that actually drove
your business forward Business-ish tasks = pointless stuff
you did when you were supposed to be doing stuff to drive
your business forward.

That's right … those business-ish activities robbed you of
the revenue generating goodness that you know and love. But
you still gotta include them in the equation. And they
bring that $DPH down, down, down."

Most self-employed people are acutely aware that their time
investment must produce immediate income. Most generate
income in proportion to the amount of hours spent working
each day. Many other entrepreneurs however, are in the
position of remaining gainfully employed as they pursue
their entrepreneurial dreams part-time. This strategy is
often a wise one, born of necessity, in the absence of
venture capitol investors. It provides that safety-net of
income and benefits for our family while we tend to our
dream.

If we calculate the incoming-producing value of our time at
$120 per hour, we must also further understand that idle,
non-productive time is then costing us $120 per hour. This
is opportunity cost. While not immediately recognizable,
this cost can cripple a fledgling business if not properly
managed.

All activity, however relevant to the business, does not
directly produce income, yet remains important to the
overall business operation. Such activities are best
completed during non-prime-time hours, where selling and
revenue generation must remain the priority otherwise.
Designing advertisements, marketing materials and selling
strategies, bookkeeping and other administrative functions
fall within this category of necessary activities. It may
make sense to consider outsourcing many of these tasks to
others who will charge far less than $120 per hour for
their services, yet deliver a top-notch solution for your
needs, thus freeing you to generate more revenue with your
precious, limited selling time.

There are many occasions where a personal phone call, sales
call or a group sales presentation are necessary. For
effective sales results under those circumstances, our
conventional, personal efforts must focus on our best sales
prospects during the most productive, prime part of the
day. For most businesses, this the 8:00am until 6:00pm time
slot. Our automated sales systems however, such as our web
site, blog, advertising and various marketing channels are
available 24/7/365 to a world-wide audience of prospective
buyers. These systems often provide us many warm prospects
for dealing with during prime time. Learn how to let your
assets work for you.

Keeping tabs on your most productive selling hours,
managing your time and other assets to your maximum
advantage while minimizing idle, non-productive time is the
formula for a successful business. Try watching less TV and
invest that time in your business. Be certain to eat well,
drink plenty of water, sleep well, scheduling both downtime
and family time.

Become well-rounded in order to renew your energy each day;
energy sufficient to fuel your income-producing hours. Your
goal should be to have all of your assets consistently
working at maximum levels for your benefit.

----------------------------------------------------
Daniel Sitter, author of both the popular book, Learning
For Profit, and the highly anticipated book, Superior
Selling Skills Mastery, has extensive experience in sales,
training, marketing and personal development spanning a
successful 25 year career. http://www.learningforprofit.com
Experience his blog at http://www.idea-sellers.com