This is a BRILLIANT example of a retail shop that knows the value of testimonials and “case studies”… It is so good, it’s self-explanatory!
In my line of work, I come across a wide range of people in many different situations and circumstances. Today’s post is about a cry for help from someone who is in dire need of assistance.
But here’s the thing that I make clear to people, especially those in the healthcare and holistic therapy sectors – Don’t become a martyr to the mission.
What I mean by that is – know your boundaries of what you can and can’t do for people. Make sure you know where that line is, otherwise you’ll constantly be challenged and before you know it, the “line” is gone and you’ve become a martyr.
Before I continue, it’s imperative I make absolutely sure you know I am NOT advocating altruism and philanthropy are bad – quite the contrary.
Altruism AND philanthropy are NECESSARY and VITAL to our modern society and I am a HUGE supporter – WHEN they are delivered by the right organisations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative (to name just two).
These organisations are NOT martyrs. They are well funded, well organised engines of change and forces for “good(will)”.
The challenge is when the every day person forgets his or her values and tries to help everyone and anyone they come across – that’s when a line can be crossed.
The purpose of this email is to teach several important principles.
As I’ve blogged previously, being a mentor or great teacher is not easy.
Below is an email I received today. It’s a genuine request and my heart goes out to “Anonymous” (name withheld for privacy reasons).
Dear Marc,
It would be a great pleasure to have you as a coach and mentor. So far I cannot afford it. The price of $ 20.13 for the “My Best Year Ever Program” is ridiculously low but I still can’t pay with a card.
So this is my offer:
If you coach someone who is completely broke (me) to become successful initially for free, I promise to pay triple the price at the end of the course.
Regards,
“Anonymous”
My view is quite simple: I have published 3,000+ pages of FREE content on the Internet via 7 different blogs. These are priceless tips, tools and techniques to help people in all 4 dimensions of their business, professional, personal lives as well as the Internet. In fact I also have a blog dedicated to accelerated learning and speed reading… This is all FREE content.
What more can someone ask of me?
This is where I draw the line. Anyone who really wants to make a change can read the blog posts – THEY ARE FREE. If they can send me an email, they can access the Internet and the blog posts.
They can read the posts and START the process – IMMEDIATELY.
First, they need to get rid of limiting beliefs – Here is an example of a few limiting beliefs and constricted thinking:
- You don’t have to pay with a credit card. You could pay by electronic funds transfer, check or cash. It’s only $20.13. There isn’t anyone who can’t come up with that amount. They can ASK a family friend or colleague to LEND it to them. The point is MONEY IS NOT THE PROBLEM.
- They could ask ME to ask you (yes you reading this if YOU would donate $20.13 to him/her)… That would be more empowering than asking me for a handout. It would show initiative and out-of-the-box thinking rather than a handout. It’s different and therefore appealing to me. (If you want to donate to Anonymous, contact me and I will gladly take care of it.)
- Offering a triple the price of the product means a $60.39 “reward”. That means the product and the results aren’t worth much to this person. This is one of the reasons why they are not motivated enough to REALLY make a change. If they committed to pay $1,000 after making $5,000 – NOW THAT’S BELIEF and commitment. I get that those numbers might be “too big”, but $60.39 is way too small. No one can get excited about $60.39 not even someone who claims not to have $20.13 in their pocket.
Look, I understand that Anonymous is in a bad place right now and that I should be more compassionate – but that’s the problem. Most people will BEND to this request and in so doing, perpetuate this LOSER MENTALITY.
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By the way, being a LOSER is not an identity.
You aren’t a LOSER – you just THINK like one.
So how do you go from a LOSER’S mindset to a WINNER’S mindset?
Simple: Make the decision to NOT think and act like a LOSER.
Think and act like a WINNER.
See what happens…
Then post a comment here and let us know how you went.
Thinking and acting like a WINNER takes ONE INSTANT – ONE DECISION.
If you don’t believe it – FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT.
DECIDE NOW.
That’s all it takes.
You don’t need to know HOW you will succeed – you just need to decide that you WANT to succeed.
That’s why emails like this rub me the wrong way – I am already GIVING this advice for FREE to help ANYONE and EVERYONE who cares enough to make the investment in reading what I write.
I INVEST THE TIME – without compensation – for the greater good, out of the kindness and generosity of my heart. I do that because…
I care about people who want to change.
I want to help anyone who wants to improve.
I want to make what I offer accessible to EVERYONE.
I am committed to sharing my gifts and expertise openly, but not to the point of martyrdom.
All I ask is that if you want to change, that you make the MINIMUM investment – IN YOURSELF before you ever pay me one dollar.
If and when you do want to pay me, I will make sure I always over deliver.
One last point:
I could have ignored this email and/or responded privately. But I didn’t.
I thought that by sharing this with you and with Anonymous that I could have a greater influence and maybe change more than one person’s life in so doing.
It is my hope that Anonymous will take this PUBLIC forum to step up and make things happen. Unless he or she MAKES THAT DECISION – no one can help.
Not even me.
I can’t help someone who can’t help him/herself.
All the tools are available in my blogs and on my YouTube channel for FREE.
Here are 5 links that I think are the quickest way out of poverty thinking.
The 1 Percent Improvement Doctrine Part 1 of 2
The 1 Percent Improvement Doctrine Part 2 of 2
Motivational Video To Get You Pumped Up
Inspirational Video To Get You Thinking Anything Is Possible
Many business people search for complicated (and expensive) ways to grow their businesses… Often, the simplest and easiest things create the biggest results. This TED TALK video is an example of the concept of finding hidden assets in your business BY CHALLENGING preconceived thoughts and ideas.
In this video, Terry Moore challenges you on how you tie your shoe laces… Chances are you are not doing it properly!
The moral of THIS STORY is… chances are you are making other mistakes in YOUR business or career that are just as easy to fix!
I recently had an encounter on the sidewalk with a young lady who, as we chatted, revealed she was on her way to a modelling audition.
I knew she was a model – not because of the way she looked, but because she was lost. I offered to help with a suggestion with the direction I thought she should take to get to her appointment. I wasn’t familiar with that area and I didn’t know the street she was looking for and I didn’t have a directory on hand.
On my way to my appointment, she caught up to me and what do I notice under her arm? A street directory that I had not seen previously…
She hadn’t told me she had one, so when I saw it, I asked if I could use it and we found her street…
I really hope she gets the modelling gig because she really, really needs to make money with her beauty ’cause there ain’t much brains to work with!
I know this is one of those extreme situations, but I see it often in business. People have all the gadgets and tools, but simply don’t know how to use them. Contact us if you want to make the most of the tools and resources you currently have available to you so that you can start to grow your business more effectively.
As you know, I am a proponent of Antimimeticisomorphism. This is an example of that kinf of out-of-the-ordinary thinking. This is a sign for a convenience store in Surfer’s Paradise on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.
If you come across across examples like this – people doing out-of-the-ordinary things to create extra-ordinary results, please contact us and we’ll share them with our readers and subscribers. Of course we’ll hyperlink back to your website or blog so you get FULL SEO value for your contribution!
As a reader and/or subscriber to this and my other blogs, you already know that I have a holistic approach to life and business. I live and promote a “purpose driven life” that requires that you find and follow your passions.
To help find your purpose and passions, you can begin by asking yourself the following questions:
“What are you interested in?”
“What are you passionate about ?”
“What are you good at?”
“What do you do in your free time?”
“What do like to do without anyone paying you to do it?”
Recently, I came across a software company and their logo, as well as their peculiar name which peaked my interest.
Can you tell what the founder’s passion is?
If you don’t see it right away – step away from your computer screen several feet and it’ll jump out at you!
This is an example of TERRIFIC BRANDING – just not leveraged exponentially. I keep telling my clients that here is nothing worse for a business to do something great and keep it a secret…
Now the secret’s out!
Every once in a while* someone does something so out-of-the-ordinary that you have to do something about it.
In this instance, it started about 3 years ago when I walked into a Runner’s retail shop called Running Room.
First of all, this was in Richmond, Vancouver, Canada. Well Steveston if you want to be specific about it. The reason this is important is that I am not a runner, but I still walked in. I was struck by the fact that they could have a store “just for runners”… In fact they have a LOT of stores, but that’s not the point.
I walked in out of curiosity and walked out with a pair of microfibre training pants. They are absolutely awesome. I wear them about 8-9 months of the year when I am training for squash, doing drills and routines. They are NOT lined and cover my compression garments – SKINS. As great as they are, I have been unable to find any, anywhere.
That brings me to my most recent trip back to Vancouver – I went back into the Running Room store with my pants in hand to get an additional pair.
The salesperson (I forget his name!) knew exactly what I was talking about because he too had a pair and liked them as much as I did!
They were out of stock – discontinued!
But he searched online and found 2 pairs at a remote store. The challenge was that I was leaving in a few days to return to Sydney, Australia.
Lots of things transpired – multiple people were involved to make sure I got the 2 pairs for the liquidation price of $20 each…
I mean c’mon… Who goes out of their way to sell $40 worth of leftover stock?
The Running Room does!
I figure they do it because they are not in this for SALES, but CUSTOMER SATISFACTION. I mean c’mon it’s a store ONLY for runners. If you’re not focused on customer satisfaction, how could you survive let alone thrive as they have?
With a niche of people who are dedicated to their sport, their hobby, their passion – running – you’d be a fool to focus on sales.
They totally get why they’re in business and even though I am not a runner – I am a HUGE FAN.
They made my day and now every time I put on my training pants I am left with a sense of gratitude for every one who went that extra step.
I can’t thank them enough, but I can make sure as many people know about them as possible.
Tell all your friends and family who run or are otherwise athletically inclined!
*
Isn’t it sad that I am celebrating something that should be normal, average, expected?
The great news is that for those like the Running Room, they get the benefit of being the EXCEPTION, the stand outs… The ones people want to go to. At least they get that benefit/advantage… Because they totally deserve it!
The next time YOU get outstanding service – make sure you tell as many people as you can!
Whenever I teach Killer Kopywriting – using words that sell – I make sure to emphasise that there is always a balance between what is said and is meant.
Sometimes it’s subtle and sometimes it’s lost in translation…
I recently spent a week in my hometown of Montreal. It’s in the French province of Quebec in eastern Canada. Ignoring the separatist Quebec issues and constitutional legal wrangling involved, the linguistic and cultural duality of Canada was something I took for granted when I grew up and lived there.
This recent visit was the first time, since I emigrated to Australia 12 years ago, that I fully re-immersed myself into the French culture. As a result, I had a paradigm shift.
When I am thinking in French (I am fluently bilingual so I don’t translate when I speak either language), I actually have different thoughts, analytical patterns and even specific emotions for each language. It is largely due to syntax, vocabulary, linguistic structure, local expressions and vernacular that trigger different parts of the brain including memories and emotional anchors.
The reason this is relevant and important for you as a business person who isn’t Canadian, is because without total immersion or even exposure to a different ‘world view’ – you will remain restricted within your ‘world’ and will continue to have the same thoughts over and over again.
That doesn’t mean you need to become Canadian, learn French (or any other language, although that is a wonderful skill to have) but you do need, from time to time, to extract yourself from the day-to-day monotony of running your business to stimulate and encourage different thoughts and thinking patterns.
It’s one of the reasons I enjoy traveling – even domestic travel stimulates the senses. However, the more culturally diverse your exposure, the better.
This has been one of the most powerful insights I’ve had in quite some time. Often the greatest and most valuable epiphanies are within the realm of our own experiences, we just need something, someone to rattle them out of us!
If you’d like to join an environment that creates and encourages these kinds of enlightened revelations, contact us and we’ll guide you through the various programs we have available. We have options for a wide range of budgets as well as matched to your level of ambition and drive.
I received this quote from Brian Matthews of Axis Planning in Brisbane.
Brian attended our Business Blogging Workshop and has applied the principles to start creating high-value SEO for his website/blog while at the same time, doing i for others with a win-win approach.
This quote rings true to me. When I had employees, I would send them to training events, workshops and even walk on fire seminars with Tony Robbins.
About half of them would make the decision to quit whereas the other half stayed and helped us out-perform our competitors by a factor of 2 to 1. You do the maths!
Does combining offline and online mean double the costs or double the profits?
That’s a perplexing question that baffles many small business owners and independent retailers.
What works for multinational corporations with deep pockets doesn’t work for small businesses with shoe-string budgets.
Even though today’s empowered consumers expect to interact with brands across a wide range of touch points, that means a strategy that integrates both an off- and online approach is becoming increasingly important. A recent Google/Ipsos study indicates shoppers are feeling increasingly comfortable hitting the “Buy Now” button using their mobile devices, but the wise retail marketer knows the best way to make a sale is by integrating their message across both the “old” and the new media channels. Print and digital campaigns are now tightly intertwined.
The Internet has undoubtedly changed the world of advertising forever and a successful advertising campaign must embrace this medium in order to be successful. Yet one may think that a purely online approach is the answer, however it’s also important to remember that physical promotional items (and advertising) still reach people that online advertising can’t.
Plus, you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of having information that prospective buyers can take with them to analyse and review at their convenience and discretion. That’s why niche magazines remain popular and why print is far from being “dead”.
Most businesses and brands realise that a balance of online content and physical information is necessary, but many are not sure how to achieve this balance. More often than not, the answer comes down to budget and desired outcomes.
One thing is for sure: combining online and offline media is now a must.
Even though social media has played a large role in toppling foreign state political regimes, I am not a fan of social media marketing for small businesses who need to produce tangible sales results.
Instead of wasting time, money and effort on something that is marginal, why not direct it to something tried and tested?
Offline media like print advertising is PROVEN to work – especially in specialised, highly targeted niche markets.
But print won’t work on its own anymore. Print needs an online component to facilitate and enhance the conversation that needs to take place. Without the web, that conversation now falls on deaf ears. With a fully developed online presence, print advertisers can direct their offline leads into fully automated online systems that create a much more fluent, enjoyable and valuable customer experience.
Yet, without print or physical media, often, the catalyst doesn’t exist and “nothing happens”.
Therein lies the conundrum – in many instances, the fastest, easiest and most economical path to prospects is print. Physical (niche) publications have distribution networks that reach people in pockets of interest that are well established. These networks are entrenched geographically, culturally and economically. They have been around for years or even decades, reinforced across generations.
Therein lies the power of the PHYSICAL REAL WORLD network.
But that power remains impotent without the Internet as its new ‘enabler’.
Traditional media such as print, radio and television advertising often has better brand recall than digital media which suffers from source credibility syndrome.
The challenge for small business is focusing on what works to produce measurable outcomes versus and not be tricked by the smoke and mirrors evangelised by the providers of the new media services who keep referring to deep pocket campaigns that the lone Aussie Battler simply can’t afford.
We have solutions for all budgets – contact us and we’ll help you get results within the next week that you can measure. No smoke. No Mirrors.
Sydney’s Private Jeweler, Sam Kritsotakis, recently opened his new Eskae Boutique in Mosman… The reason that’s newsworthy is because a lot of businesses are struggling, yet our clients are thriving and expanding.
The reason is simple. They are applying antimimeticisomorphism principles of Exponential Mindset Thinking – having fun, doing out–of-the-ordinary things that create extra-ordinary results with the least amount of effort and at the lowest cost.
If you’re not GROWING, you’re contracting.
There is no middle ground.
If you want to grow your business, isn’t it time you contacted us to get going and growing?
Across Italy, police are cracking down on Ferrari and Lamborghini drivers, but not because they are driving too fast.
Italy, like so much of southern Europe, is drowning in debt, so police are pursuing drivers to make sure they are declaring – and therefore paying taxes on – earnings that would allow them to afford cars worth as much as half a million dollars.
The lesson here is that as a business, you want to adopt antimimeticisomorphism thinking – simply put, think differently to get different results.
If you are struggling to find new leads for your business – start looking at WHAT your clients are DOING, WHERE they are going, WHO they are spending time with…
If it works for the police in Italy, it might just work for you!
For example, want to deal with better clients? Look at the help wanted ads – companies who are HIRING are doing better than the ones who are laying off workers. Want more out-of-the-box ideas like this to grow your business? Contact us.
I recently blogged that print media is alive and well, but there are still some skeptics out there who don’t fully understand why that’s the case.
First, let me deal with the obvious issue – print IS declining. There is no question that it has peaked and it’s decreasing quickly, but it’s far from dead as I explain below.
Second, death is over stating the demise of print and traditional media.
Print advertising makes a comeback in the digital age
I know it may seem counter-intuitive, but the latest research reveals that print (and direct mail) are far from dead! In fact, even though we live in a highly, and ever-increasingly digital world, we are still human and as such still rely on print to make purchasing decisions.
We can all acknowledge that we struggle to sift through all our emails, websites, blogs, social media and other online channels. The number of online messages and ads has increased explosively to record levels, overwhelming most consumers. That means advertisers have an increasingly smaller segment of a highly fragmented online presence that gets costlier by the day.
That’s why there has been a “return to print” as well as (physical) direct mail. Sure we all enjoy the practicality of online access, but we also still love the feel of a magazine between our fingers as we flip the pages revealing colourful images, interesting fonts and great content.
As consumers, we’ve come to appreciate the need for advertising – especially in niche market publications like this one. That’s why it still continues to perform exceptionally well for small businesses with tiny marketing budgets who need to reach their target audience economically, without the costly, scattergun approach associated with daily or community newspapers.
In this day and age, print media, especially NICHE and LOCAL PUBLICATIONS still reign supreme – especially when they’re integrated with an online presence, the topic of an future blog post.
Need more proof?
I thought so. Here it is.
STATISTICS ON TRADITIONAL PRINT ADVERTISING
That weird-looking picture on the left is of bacteria – the organisms that play an essential role in our lives. Bacteria help us digest food, eliminate toxins from our body, and provide us with vital nutrients. And yet these tiny creatures, responsible for so much good stuff on the planet (and lots of bad stuff, too), have no ears, no sense of touch, and no form of intelligence.
Despite being deprived of these senses, bacteria can tell not only if their siblings are nearby, but also precisely how many of them are present. They can coordinate their behaviours and determine if any other species are in the area. They then form alliances to increase their chances of survival – all while being unable to hear or touch each other.
Bacteria are able to achieve this level of teamwork by something called quorum sensing. Basically, they release a chemical that can be read only by members of the same species. That’s it – a unique and reliable shared identity.
Remote employees are somewhat like bacteria.
They’re deprived of major senses that would otherwise keep them connected to their colleagues. They don’t see each other, hear each other or stay in touch with each other as often as employees who share the same office. This produces a level of distance, both physical and metaphorical, that makes it difficult to encourage teamwork and engagement. The solution can be found in quorum sensing.
From a management perspective, quorum sensing is about releasing certain elements into a remote team that engender a sense of shared identity.
In particular:
- The sense of vision: Generate an inspiring vision articulated well enough and frequently enough for all members of the team to remember.
- The sense of observation: Ramp up face-to-face communication, such as webinars or video conferences, which create a more meaningful connection than teleconferences.
- The sense of togetherness: At least once a year, but preferably once a quarter, organise an event where all remote workers can meet for a day or two in the same location.
- The sense of informality: Open up informal lines of communication, because trust and relationships are more easily formed via casual and relaxed channels.
- The sense of collaboration: Create opportunities for remote employees to work together on projects, especially ones that would necessitate a joint approach to problem solving.
- The sense of intuition: It’s hard to tell if employees you rarely see are happy or sad. So, check in with them regularly by asking questions such as ‘what are your challenges?’
As the author of the scientific study writes: “Bacteria might be small but they communicate in more than one language, they strategise, they co-ordinate their efforts, they have thrived in places you wouldn’t even go for a dare. It seems clear the bacteria still have a lesson or two for us big-headed folk.”
Thank you to Mark Mackenzie of The Graffiti Eaters for sending this to me. As The Exponential Growth Strategist, I use quorum as one of the foundational principles of the Exponential Mastermind Experience that we create in our Platinum Program.
A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.
A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk away.
A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.
The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.
In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.
Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?
One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?
Here is my Exponential Mindset Thinking Twist:
If you are Joshua Bell in your industry or marketplace, are you playing YOUR instrument in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Hmmm…. Something to think about the next time you spend time. money and effort on your next sales and marketing promotion.
Watch this video and ask yourself the question – would you sit down?
When I explain Antimimeticisomorphism to my clients, I always specify being different for a deliberate purpose without being provocative.
This commercial pushes the envelope and makes the point without being offensive or being too serious.
Thank you to Andrew Powell of Montreal, Canada for forwarding it on to me.
Today’s blog post is a colourful overview of the history of advertising that captures the evolution of sales and marketing over the past decades. It’s always worthwhile to see where we’ve come from to determine where we’re going. Even though it has an American slant to it, it’s still interesting to review the milestones retrospectively.
Enjoy!
One of the sad things I see in my line of work as The Exponential Growth Strategist is business owners who are slaves to their business and won’t admit to themselves.
They put up appearances and “posture” when I meet them, claiming they are decisive and “in charge”, but just a little probing reveals the truth.
They are working for their employees and not the other way around.
Now don’t get me wrong. Great employees are fantastic, but toxic employees are a life-threatening, profit killing cancer to a small business.
I put together a quick quiz you can take to determine if you’re in the entrepreneurial jail or not.
Yes = 1, No= 0, Not Sure = 0
Total your points and let’s see how you measure up:
If you scored 1, 2, or 3: You’re on death row
You know there’s very little hope for freedom unless you make dramatic changes.
If you scored 3, 4 or 5: You’re got a life sentence with a chance of parole
You have a job with tax benefits and poor working conditions.
If you scored 5, 6 or 7: You’re on parole.
Like most business owners, you like to think you’re the boss, but you realise your personal life and schedule revolves around your staff showing up physically and “mentally” to get the job done.
If you scored 8, 9 or 10: You’re Free!
You’re in control and happy to be master of your own destiny. You are the exception to the rule. Well done!
If you scored 0, you know you’re taking your last breath, time has run out and all the appeals have been used. It’s over.













