Don’t dwell so much on a problem that you’ve exhausted yourself before you can even entertain a solution. It just doesn’t make sense. It takes brainpower and energy to think positively and creatively — and to see creatively and positively. Going negative is the easy way, the lazy way. Use your brainpower to focus on positives and solutions and your own mindset will create your own luck.
Shakespeare put it this way, in a famous quote from Julius Caesar:
“The fault is not in our stars, dear Brutus, but in ourselves.”
That’s a clear message. We are responsible for ourselves. We are responsible for our own luck. What an empowering thought! If you see responsibility as a bum deal, then you are not seeing it for what it really is — a great opportunity.
Let’s say you’re facing some big challenge today. I can tell you right now you’ve got a lot of company. What will separate you from the complaining crowd will be how you choose to look at your situation. If you believe you are in control of it — and you are — you will know exactly who to look for when you need help: yourself. You could be your greatest discovery yet for success, luck, power, and happiness.
When I encountered enormous financial challenges back in the 1990s, I was mature enough to assume responsibility and know that the problem was mine. I knew it wouldn’t do any good to blame other people. That would be a waste of time, and that’s one kind of loss I don’t like. Time is something that cannot be replaced. If you find yourself slipping into the blaming others mode, get out of it quickly.
Give luck the chance it needs to play itself out in your life. No one can do it for you. As soon as you discover that luck is yours to create, you’ll be thinking and seeing things in a whole new way. So work hard, have fun - and good luck!
February 6th, 2008
Posted by
Coldie |
Entrepreneurship, Net-Preneurship, Success |
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Don’t get alarmed by the heading and don’t start giving me the look before you start reading this post. I want to share with you some life changing actions I had made in order to be where am I now, financially free.
I remember in year 2001, I left the company I painfully built. Though I was not the owner or founder of the company, I felt cheated because I was owed commissions amounting to more than 30,000. I was employee No.2 in the company and broke all SAP Training Sales Record ($200,000 in one day!) when I was working there.
Soon, I was on the job hunt. I was a Group Sales Manager and used to hang out with my peers. I was spending lot’s of time mixing with my customers, IT Managers, Senior Managers… etc. So I thought to myself, I better start contacting them to help me.
I was shell-shocked to realize this. None of the few hundred contacts that I used to spend time with could help me. Then I told myself, “OMG, I’ve mixed with the wrong people”. The last few years had been wasted. I started telling myself, I should have fired my friends!
Birds of the same feather flock together.
IT Managers tend to hang with IT Managers; Storemen with storemen, Senior Managers with Senior Managers, Directors with CEO. . . etc
To know what is your net worth or how much your salary is, I don’t even need to see your pay cheque. All I need to do is to add your 5 closest friend’s salaries, divide by five and your salary will be +-20% from there.
How to Fire Your Friends? What’s the criterior for firing them?
Tell yourself this, if this friend cannot help you in your job when you lose your job, then fire him/her. I know this sounds like a tough decision but my advise is to just do it. Of course I’m not asking you to fire your childhood friends or someone who’s very close to your heart. I’m asking to fire those that you regularly hang around with.
Remember This Important Quote - Hang around with 9 losers and you’re No.10.
Don’t read this portion if you haven’t come to terms with what I have taught you. You need to shed your miserable life and start afresh. To do that, you have to let it all go.
The luxury of running my own business is this. I choose my customers I would want to work with. I’ve turned away so many businesses that I’ve lost count. Remember the successful rule lies with the fact that 20% of your customers gives you 80% of the business. Ever since I’ve mastered the art of Firing My Friends, I’ve also learnt the art of Firing My Customers.
Another thing you need to learn about firing your friends is to fire friends who are not as intelligent as you. Ok, this sounds crude and you probably heard this for the first time. You need to evolve. I’ll give you a simple analogy.
For example, you have a nagging wife who can’t stop nagging at you whether you’re doing the right stuff or not. You have a choice actually. You could either change yourself to adapt to it (and stop complaining) or you could change the environment. Ok, it might be a little extreme but I just want to tell you that MUST BE in control. You MUST BE driver of your Life! The easier way would be to go for counseling together or pray hard to God.
Finding New Friends
There is a certain progression. I’ll give you a breakdown of steps that you can work on.
- Find somebody smart. Bribe him by buying him lunch or dinner. Get close to him and tap his brain juice at every opportunity. Fire him when he runs out of ideas.
- Go networking. There are tons of networking events out there. Many are F.O.C. (especially the IT ones) or those that cost anywhere from $10-$20. This is the best time to meet people who are successful. It’s also a good time to have access to Managing Directors and CEOs that you usually won’t get to meet when doing a sales call.
- Join Alumnis / Trade Organisations. - Most of the members in trade organisations are business owners. It’s a good time to find intelligent people and people with good connections.
Firing CEO Friends
After I realize the need to fire my loser friends, in order to be successful, I started going to many networking sessions. Mainly in IT. That equipped me with very good IT knowledge but most of all, I got to know a lot of Business Owners. The sad fact is this, you will find a lot of O.M.O. (One Man Operation) businessmen who are really lost. Once I realize I’ve got nothing much to learn from them, I moved on . . . and Fired Them!
Are You A Loser?
Chances is you might be one. The biggest setback a person can have is their pride and ego. They do that by not admitting they are a loser. I was a big loser once. I admitted to it, fire my friends, firing my CEO friends.
The Need To Improve Yourself
Now you probably have a peek on how successful people see things differently. There is an important need to improve yourself so that you’ll keep up with the pace. Remember, it’s a two way game. You can fire people and so can they. Once you’re irrelevant, people will fire you for good.
January 19th, 2008
Posted by
Coldie |
Entrepreneurship, Net-Preneurship |
no comments
A post on this blog a week ago described the marketing traction that small businesses can develop by sending out press releases to local media. Today, I would like to add to that strategy.
The first step is to have your company contribute to the quality of life in your community. You could buy a new piece of medical equipment for a local hospital, offer jobs to local retirees, or sponsor a new playground. Once you have done your good deeds, send out press releases about your activities to local media - newspapers, radio stations, regional cable networks. They will be eager to tell your news.
When you demonstrate your commitment to your community, you will receive more far-ranging benefits than you can generate from advertising alone. (After all, advertising is intended to generate sales and usually not much more.) When your community involvement makes news, you:
- Cultivate customers who will be much more eager to buy from you than from your competitors.
- Create “buzz” for your company and what you sell.
- Transmit a marketing message that remains active in the minds of your customers for months and even years.
- Establish your brand as something that people can believe in, not just buy.
- Encourage local vendors, investors, service providers and other businesses to contact you.
With community-cenetered public relations, you can talk to your customers like a neighbor, not just another business that wants their money. If you can accomplish and help people too, that is a classic win/win for everyone involved.
January 13th, 2008
Posted by
Coldie |
Entrepreneurship, Marketing |
no comments
As we finish up 2007 and roll into 2008, it is time to adapt a new kind of business planning, which I call “plan-as-you-go” business planning. A new year is the time to put the power of good planning behind your enterprise, I’d like to revisit the basics of PAYG planning from a slightly different angle.
As you plan your business . . .
- Start anywhere. The plan is a matter of interlocking blocks, so some people start with a numbers task, like a sales forecast, and others start conceptually, with a vision or a strategy or focus. Don’t wait until your plan is finished, get going. Start today and start using it tomorrow.
- Remember that all business plans are wrong - but they’re still vital. You are predicting the future. You’ll be wrong, but you set down tracks so you can follow up and revise without losing sight of the long-term goals and directions.
- Don’t expect to finish. Good business plans are never done. My company’s business plan started in the late 1980s and it’s still a work in progress. If your plan is finished, your company is finished. Instead, you revise as needed, as in steering, navigation, and walking. The core of the plan is the collection of heart and flesh and bones, its content, thinking, and specifics; from that you spin out a document or presentation or elevator speech as needed, and when needed.
- There is no correct format, because form follows function. Do only as much as you need to run your company, to manage, to build strategy and follow-up and long-term goals and directions. If you don’t need to create a formal plan, don’t.
- Keep it alive, always, and spin the output as needed. Don’t ever let your plan go static. Keep it on top of things, active, and alive, not forgotten in a drawer.
January 11th, 2008
Posted by
Coldie |
Entrepreneurship |
no comments
Here’s a marketing strategy that’s literally too good to be true, because . . .
- You can master it in an afternoon.
- It costs you nothing - literally zilch.
- It performs as well as expensive advertising.
- It is renewable, meaning that with just a little ongoing effort from you, it will keep producing good results.
I am talking about writing press releases. If you spend just a little time reviewing the information in this post today, you can achieve the results I describe above, or even better. Plus, you can get started today.
What You Need to Know
What are press releases? They are one or two-page written documents that you send to reporters to tell them news about your company. They could be newspaper reporters, or reporters on television or radio. They will tell your story in print or on the news - and you will get valuable coverage at no cost.
How can you learn to write press releases? You can learn the standard content and page setup by visiting corporate Websites and studying the press releases that are posted on them. Some good companies to visit are Apple Computer, General Motors and Honda. But explore the “News” or “Media” sections on other corporations’ Websites too. You will quickly see that writing a high-quality press release is doggone easy.
What kind of news should you announce in your press releases? Just about anything that will interest the media. Perhaps you are opening a new store, launching a new product, hiring a new top executive or opening a new manufacturing plant in a neighboring state. If it is news, someone will report it.
Where should you send your releases? To local newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations - and any other news-reporting organizations that make sense. Just be sure to target specific reporters, by name, who cover your industry or technology. Start making a list of those people and send your releases to them.
How should you send your releases? Print them out and send them in envelopes. Or email your releases directly to the reporters you are targeting. (Many newspaper and magazine writers give their email addresses at the bottom of the articles they write.) Include some photos (or downloadable JPEGs if you are posting your releases on your company’s site) too.
How can you make sure that your releases get picked up in the media? Be proactive. Don’t send them out and wait passively for your phone to ring. Call to follow up. Also cultivate ties with reporters who cover your industry. Invite them to your company for a tour. Or introduce yourself to them at trade shows or conferences. Face-to-face contact generates press coverage.
The stories and articles that result from your releases benefit you even more than straight advertising can, by attracting the attention of venture capitalists, potential employees, vendors - and many other people with benefits to offer.
So if you want to get a huge return from a tiny investment of time, “release yourself” - by writing press releases that trumpet the news about what you and your company are up to.
January 6th, 2008
Posted by
Coldie |
Entrepreneurship, Marketing |
no comments
