Winner or loser?

According to Brian Tracy, winners are action orientated and losers are excuse orientated.

Winners use phrases like: "I will achieve ..."

Losers use phrases like : "I will try ..."

Winners set goals, write them down and keep the goals in a prominent place.

Brian asked us to do a simple exercise. For me, it was a life-changing one. Write down at least 10 goals in 3 minutes. GO!

After the 3 minutes, choose the most important goal, circle it then do something in the next 24 hours to get you closer to achieving it.

Double your income

If you have time, you will double your income.

It's up to you whether it takes 25 years or 2 years.

According to Brian Tracy it is knowledge and skills that will take you on the expressway to success, rather than relying on experience & luck which will keep you on the back roads of mediocrity.

The secret is to get off the back roads and on to the expressway!

An amazing morning with Brian Tracy

I attended a half day sales seminar with Brian Tracy today and came away with new skills and a new outlook.



I enjoyed some of his "Tracyisms":

• "Get yourself voted off "Someday Island""
• "They need a check-up from the neck up"
• "You can only coast down-hill"
• "Some people have too much month at the end of the money"
• "A JOB means Just Over Broke"
• "Politics comes from the Greek word "poly" meaning "many" and a tick is a blood sucking parasite"
• ""I'll try" is an excuse for failure"
• "The 3:30 rush hour is all the sales people heading home"

I'll share some more gems over the next few days.

Help! I'm lost

I recently drove my car through an unfamiliar city and got lost.

It reminded me how customers might feel dealing with a company or trying to navigate a website.

I got lost when my intuition let me down and the signposts didn't help. I finally resorted to a map, but it wasn't detailed enough. So I jumped on my cellphone and got directions.

The experience made me reflect on what I can do to make it easier for clients, by being more intuitive and having better navigation tools. Apparently the name for this is usability - helping clients use things more easily.

Smart marketing

Last year I entered a 5km run and today a colleague reminded me about a new gym that launched its brand at the event.

Why did my colleague remember it?

Because the gym printed some smart black tees with its brand on it & gave them to athletic, attractive people.

Like many brands, using people we want to be like (actors and models) enhances a brand's appeal. In the case of this gym, it didn't need to spend a lot to get noticed.

Do 1 thing really well

I was watching the TV programme "Top Chef" and the judges made the comment that some chefs tried to do too much and they would be much better to do 1 dish really well.

This is a lesson that we can also use in business.

I know I'm (sometimes) guilty of trying to do too much, or give too much information.

Over the last few days I've become a keen crusader of less to provide more. Less range of topics, but more detail on one topic.

The feedback has been very positive as I present myself as an expert in 1 topic.

Stories create brands

I know I'm more passionate about a brand when I understand the story around the brand.

For instance, I was intrigued to see a vehicle branded "The Immigrants Son", and then read about the story on a recent flight to Auckland. It would be hard not to fall in love with the story, and therefore the brand.

If you are in business, do your customers and prospects know the story around your brand?