Archive for April, 2006

Marty Sklar, a Disney executive and Imagineer says: “Don’t try to solve a problem too quickly. Let it evolve. Simmer.” One of my business principles is: nothing is ever as bad - or as good - as it first appears. Most every time I react too quickly to something, I wish I’d waited and thought about it a little.

You do want to be decisive. But not impulsive. Or stampeded into action before you’ve had time to weigh options, pros and cons. When you rush to judgement, you don’t give what Dr. Maltz called the “creative mechanism” an opportunity to work for you. It’s sort of like eating too fast and gulping your food. You don’t give your magnificently engineered digestive system a chance to do its job. It lets you know with indigestion.

Your “creative mechanism” is also beautifully engineered. It includes your subconscious mind’s unlimited memory and retrieval system, its navigation system locked on your goals, and its innate ability to process confusing and complex collections of ideas and information to a point of clarity, sometimes felt consciously as a “blinding flash” or a fully formed “idea out of the blue”.

Thomas Edison made a point of telling his subconscious all the information he knew about a problem, then going off and doing something completely different and relaxing…sitting on his pier with his fishing pole, taking a walk, or taking a nap…to give his “creative mechanism” sufficient time to provide him with the answer. If that sounds a bit mystical, you ought to know that this is how most of the inventors, advertising writers, and entrepreneurs I know actually work.

– Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy is an author, consultant and business coach. Additional information at www.FreeDanKennedyNewsletter.com

Ever wondered how bad inflation affects the rich and famous? Over the past year, Forbes’ CLEW-Index (Costs of Living Well Index) was hit by only 4% inflation, vs. the Consumer Price Index’s 3.6%.

A few examples: a Russian sable coat at Bloomingdale’s has not gone up in price even one cent since 2003 - still just $160,000.00 (Fake furcoat at department stores - prices have increased every year.). Harvard tuition, room, board, up about 5%, to $41,675.00 in 05 (Note to parents: that’s $166,700.00 for 4 years). A case of Dom: $1,559.00 in 05, from $1,439.00 in 04, up 8%. Worst inflation found in custom-tailored cotton shirts, about 12% (When I buy, I buy several to leave unwrapped and break into next year and year after. Better ROI on this than my managed portfolio!).

For more info on Costs Of Living Well, go to www.forbes.com/clewi. There has been significant growth in spending in the past 24 months in almost every category of luxury goods, services and travel, with continuing growth predicted. If you’re marketing to the affluent, things ARE looking up!

And if you’re following what I teach in my Online Prospecting Secrets course, you’ll find you can reach a lot of these affluent prospects on virtual autopilot with the Internet. There’s no excuse not to me making money in an environment like this!

This is a totally rewritten and up-dated of Robert Ringer’s famous New York Times #1 Bestseller, Winning Through Intimidation. Like its predecessor, it makes its points through the business adventures of The Tortoise and the dangerous characters he encounters in the business jungle. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or salesperson, if you read Ringer’s book, there will be fewer occasions where you find yourself scratching your head, trying to figure out why a situation you thought you had under control fell apart at the seams.