An inexperienced business owner will focus on his product, his customers, and his business practices as separate single entities that create one business and allow him to sell goods and services. A mid-level business owner will look at all of the separate parts and ask, “How can I make these work together?” But the adept,…
You may think that consistency is a good thing, and it is if you are selling cookies, open-heart surgery, or a pair of running shoes. But from a marketer’s perspective consistency is boring. You need to shake people up, make them jump. A good scream or laugh never hurt anyone. If you look back at…
What’s stopping you from being creative? What’s stopping you from confronting your coworker? What’s stopping you from changing the logistics of your wholesale process? It’s usually you. Your fear of losing what you already have. Your resistance to being in uncomfortable situations. Your stubborn attitude. Your mind, if you don’t use it, will go on…
Do you ever catch a coworker sitting aimlessly, twiddling their thumbs, staring at a blank computer screen counting down the clock? It’s just plain annoying. And when it comes to running your business, it is just plain unacceptable. Twiddlers do not want to be at work; that is all it is to them is work.…
Everything has a purpose. Even when you chose to do something aimlessly just for the sake of doing it, that serves a purpose in itself. The trick is to find the right purpose for what you are doing. If you are the volunteer recruiter for a non-profit your purpose is not to see how many…
You could have the most successful business in the industry for the last five years, but what do you do when industry standards change in two years from now and you were not planning for the changes while your competitors were? Even worse, what happens once the industry standards change and you are still too…
Be indifferent to what you expect out of others. The moment you hold someone to a higher standard than yourself or anyone else you are doing two things. One, you are limiting yourself by believing that you are less of a performer than your counterpart. And two, you are setting yourself up to be disappointed…
Phone numbers, names, purchase amounts, family size, addresses, income? The information that you track allows you to make decisions instead of guessing. It allows you to organize instead of collect. It allows you to discover instead of watch. It allows you to be in control instead of just be. Taking the time to track is…
All strong brands have a large following of people who are always waiting for the brand’s next move. These people will at the very least try anything the brand puts out. Creating these followers has very little to do with your product itself. The followers come from an emotional bond that you are able to…