Month: August 2005 | Chris Zavadowski's Massive Leverage Marketing

How’s Your Vision?

A lot of businesspeople never really think through their most important priorities, the skills they need to focus on strengthening, what I call the ‘Core Competencies’ of business. The illustration at right shows the six such Competencies that every entrepreneur needs to get ahead. If you were to rate yourself on a 1-10 scale in each of the six, where are you strongest? Where is your greatest opportunity for improvement?

Howard Schultz, who reinvented the coffee shop business with Starbucks, says "Vision is what they call it when others can’t see what you see. How’s your ‘vision’ "?

It’s easy to let 100% of your time and energy be consumed by the day-to-day and totally lose sight of the big picture, the future picture of your business that motivates you. The savviest entrepreneurs divide time and energy into short-term; medium-term; and long-term, and budget some time every week to think about, work on, and create some progress for each of the three. One of my favorite questions is: what do you want your business to look like, be like, operate like 3 to 5 years from today?

— Dan Kennedy

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

Filed Under: Guest Articles

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ACTION! Nothing Happens Until Something Moves

ACTION! – Nothing Happens Until Something Moves is the latest from Robert Ringer, most famous for his New York Times Bestseller Winning Through Intimidation.

Ringer opens by quoting Mark Twain: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”

He then proceeds to make the case for seven key types of action habits that separate entrepreneurial winners from also-rans.

This book is a strong reminder that your own actions have more to do with your results than anyone else’s actions or external circumstances, like the economy, competition, etc. Ringer provides simple, straightforward ideas in an entertaining, breezy read. You’ll enjoy and profit from this book.

— Chris

P.S. – If you don’t already own his first book, it’s now been re-released and retitled: To Be or Not to Be Intimidated?: That is the Question. Click here to pick up at To Be Or Not to Be Intimidated? at Amazon, or click here to get Action!.

Filed Under: Book of the Month

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Profile of Success: Blue Mountain Arts

In the late 1960’s, two idealistic college grads with zero business experience started a business printing and selling silkscreened posters, featuring her art and his poetry.

With no money, backing or resources, they began as their own traveling salesforce, living out of a yellow pick-up truck and camper, personally convincing stores to carry their products, one by one.

By the early 1980’s, they turned their humble start into Blue Mountain Arts, publisher of the #1 bestselling line of greeting cards in America. Susan Polis Schultz, one of the co-founders says “We stumbled and bumbled, but we learned something everytime we took a step forwards or backwards.” They even survived a dangerous and difficult legal battle with Hallmark.

Today, it’s almost impossible to walk into a greeting card or gift shop and not find racks of the beautifully illustrated Blue Mountain Arts greeting cards and books. (I even saw them at my local CAR WASH of all places.)

Nearly 2-Billion of their greeting cards have been sold! You can read their story in Susan’s book Blue Mountain: Turning Dreams Into Reality. Their story is one of entrepreneurial vision, commitment, persistence, creative problem-solving and responding effectively to adversity, and accomplishment.

Here are a few of Susan’s thoughts from the book:

“If you believe in something, you must stand by your belief despite people who try to discourage you. Not everyone will like everything you do. Don’t let negative comments deter you from reaching your goal.”

“When a problem occurs, don’t try to distance yourself from it or assume it will just go away. You must face it head on and solve it.”

“It is essential to identify the most important and critical aspects of a business, and then focus on perfecting them.” (A great quote for MLM isn’t it?)

Filed Under: Profiles of Success

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