From small signs such as the employee’s level of dedication to things as major as the overall success of the company, a restroom usually never lies. Why? Because when a business or its coworkers are not on the top of their game, the restroom’s cleanliness is the first to go. Toilet paper rolls are left unchanged, the garbage is neglected and the mirror is full of water spots.
My Father’s old business partner/mentor was adamant about this concept. He would never invest into a business with an unclean restroom. And me being taught this at a very young age, I’ve constantly kept my eye on restrooms. It never fails, every clean restroom is found in a successful business. Those unclean facilities I’ve encountered are now mostly all attached to “for lease” empty buildings. [click to continue…]
On the fence about starting a business? That’s completely understandable. It can be intimidating. But before you make your decision, read the following. I’ve listed my top 5 favorite benefits of owning a profitable business. Enjoy!
1. Eat What You Wish When Going Out
Never having to worry too much about the price of dishes in a restaurant is an amazing feeling. And since the majority of restaurant tabs are tax-deductible, order away! Add sautéed mushrooms for two bucks more? No problem… Another glass of wine? Sure, why not!
2. Do What You Want During The Week
Besides the occasional meeting, the self-employed choose their hours. There are no too weak, I mean two weeks, vacation time RFP’s. Daughter’s Afternoon Music Recital? Sit in the front row… Case of the Mondays? Go golfing and catch up on work a little later. [click to continue…]
Imagine you are guided into a bare room and abandoned with one marshmallow, which you can eat at anytime. But if you do not eat it until the facilitator returns, you will be given one more marshmallow. What would you do? Eat the one immediately? Or wait a few minutes for two?
This experiment has been conducted on countless squirming children. And hilarity usually ensues. The temptation for the yummy marshmallow is most times too overwhelming for the youngsters. As seen in this cute and often hilarious video:
The underlying concepts of the marshmallow experiment holds true for your life as well. Do you have a marshmallow you’re dying to eat? However, if you hold off, is there another one waiting?
The Moral of the Story
It is often very easy to accomplish a portion of your desires. But, in turn, blow it just as quickly. Knowing all too well that you should have reinvested your success back into your dreams.
Put in other words, we all have that inner child in us, begging for that marshmallow. However, our level of self-control will directly affect our ability to accomplish any goal. And earn that second tasty marshmallow.
Have you ever had one of those days? You know, those days that kept you active from 8 til 6. You were super busy. But looking back at the day, it was filled with mundane tasks. And while you felt eventful, in reality you didn’t accomplish anything.
I’ve had these types of days. I’m assuming you have too.
I call this, working for work’s sake. And it’s the murderer of an enjoyable life.
Learning from Rocks, Pebbles and Sand
To start this visualization, list your tasks from most to least important. Then associate these with rocks, pebbles and sand. The biggest rock being the most important task. Sand being the least. Also, let’s imagine a jar as your day, timeframe or project timeline. [click to continue…]
Buyers are a fickle bunch. Most consumers shop around. And nowadays the web has made every shopper, a savvy shopper. They can easily find coupons by checking out sites like Slickdeals. And they can compare prices of similar products and services relatively quickly.
As marketers, how do we convert these price conscious shoppers into happy purchasers?
Assuming you have a somewhat unique offering through a differentiation strategy, you must reshape their subconscious price bias.
There is an interesting concept in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) called anchoring. In short, people can become attached to a certain concept and retain that bias when making future decisions. This has huge implications for your offerings and pricing. And should be taken seriously when looking to successfully compete in your industry.
When a potential buyer becomes anchored to a price, breaking their preconceived price notions is difficult. Which is why you must create your own anchor. While this is easier said than done, it is possible. [click to continue…]
There is a ton of bad search engine optimization advice out there. And I’m annoyed by how these so-called SEO gurus are stigmatizing the industry.
Apparently creating a Twitter account with “SEO” in the username gives anyone permission to self-identify as an SEO genius. I’ve even received extraordinary proposals through my contact form, “we guarantee #1 listings on the Google pages.” I wonder what they truly expect from those emails? “Guaranteed rankings? Amazing! Where do I sign up!?! And since you obviously have a way with words, I’m excited for you to copywrite my site’s content!” Yikes! I feel sorry for anyone who gets roped into these scams. Most likely any website “optimized” by these SEO ninjas will get punished to Google’s equivalent of hell, that isuntil you fix it.
Ok, enough with the rant… on with the post.
I do about 90% of my work from my computer so needless to say; I spend a lot of time online. And, out of curiosity, I often find myself glancing at the SEO structure of websites I visit. The two things I usually notice are either no optimization what so ever or completely ineffective, outdated techniques. Rarely do I find a search engine friendly website. This tells me that the SEO industry is going to see a substantial increase in these “gurus” as more website owners innocently hop on the search engine optimization train. Put in other words, the demand for SEO services will overwhelm the good guys and with low barriers to entry, SEO gurus will flood the market.
With a rise of these bad SEO’s, no doubt there will be an increase of false information. So before you plunk down the dough for a search engine friendly website, please read this list of useless and often dangerous advice: [click to continue…]
In Warren Buffett’s biography, The Snowball, I found an intriguing concept. The Oracle of Omaha said that he had won the Ovarian Lottery:
I’ve had it so good in this world, you know. The odds were fifty-to-one against me being born in the United States in 1930. I won the lottery the day I emerged from the womb by being in the United States instead of in some other country where my chances would have been way different.
Imagine there are two identical twins in the womb, both equally bright and energetic. And the genie says to them, “One of you is going to be born in the United States, and one of you is going to be born in Bangladesh. And if you wind up in Bangladesh, you will pay no taxes. What percentage of your income would you bid to be the one that is born in the United States?” It says something about the fact that society has something to do with your fate and not just your innate qualities. The people who say, “I did it all myself,” and think of themselves as Horatio Alger – believe me, they’d bid more to be in the United States than in Bangladesh. That’s the Ovarian Lottery.
Warren Buffett won it. And if you’re reading this (hold for applause), you’ve won it too. Congrats!
The world we live in is an amazing place. Anyone with an Internet connection and a passion can completely transform their lives for the better. Even the poorest and lowest-class individuals of 1st world countries have unbelievable potential to be great.
So think about the words of Warren Buffett the next time something discourages you from accomplishing your dreams. And do not forget the incredible opportunities available to us Ovarian Lottery winners.
Expos, chamber gatherings and other networking events will certainly leave you with pockets full of business cards. And I am assuming you cherish the business cards from the important contacts you met. But what about all of the cards from folks you may never intend on speaking to again? (i.e. an unrelated industry worker) What should a smart networker do with these contact cards?
Most people fail to do anything with seemingly undesirable business cards. Some may throw them away. While most others probably toss them in a drawer, only to throw them away five years later. And so it seems that most people never recognize the golden opportunity presented with all business cards: building a network. Shocking revelation, huh? Since this was your original intention of going to the networking event anyway, might as well do it correctly. Here’s my advice: [click to continue…]
Job Seekers: Do you have a resume? If so, please do something for me: delete the file and burn any hard copies.
Done? Cool, welcome to the new decade.
Resumes are boring and filled with fluff. They’re unbiased and only highlight a few carefully crafted bullet-point details about a career. And it is absolutely impossible to learn about someone from a single piece of paper. Instead, employers will now perform a 2 second name search in Google, shedding extraordinary light on potential hires.
The Attraction of Expertise
Compare a typical resume toting 15-year veteran to an industry-specific, high-traffic blogger a year out of college. Who will look more desirable? I’d put my money on the blogger. The college kid has tangible proof of their knowledge. And both colleagues and clients will put increased trust into the new hire with obvious, proven expertise. [click to continue…]
There is a very intriguing trait of crabs. When placed in a bucket, a single crab easily climbs out. Adding two or more crabs to the bucket, however, none will ever escape. The lower crabs will grab onto the higher climbers and yank them down. This phenomenon is analogous to anyone striving for a better life. Your current scenario is the bucket and your critics are the fellow crabs. And the world is not short of crabs who love to pull you down.
The Escape
After weeks of brutal torture, André Devigny successfully escaped a WWII POW camp by, among other things, scaling a massive fortress wall. Talk about climbing out of a mighty extreme bucket! And he did so when the German army considered his living arrangements permanent. Yet he didn’t allow his current situation to determine his future. Neither should anyone else.
Everyone looking to escape his or her circumstances will face similar detractors. Remember, those who think you can never break free will forever doubt your intentions. So it’s best to realize early on that no matter what you do, others will find ways to criticize.
Luckily we are not crabs. By recognizing that others are trying to pull you down, you can overcome their flak. We are free to create a better lifestyle and the commentators can stay in their self-imposed lair of fear. Also, we are not in a bucket, we can choose who we associate with. If someone says you cannot do something, impose a social embargo and cut all ties.
Put in other words; ditch the critics and their pent-up hostility towards success. You have a remarkable life ahead and you don’t need them.
As a young entrepreneur, online marketing expert, public speaker, real estate investor and eco-activist I have chosen the road less traveled. I'm a compulsive perfectionist and thoroughly research every major decision and investment. This has helped me create a lifestyle free of the rat race and that dreaded 40+ hour work week. And while I am years from retiring, I am quickly on my way to financial freedom.
My passion is helping other entrepreneurs create extraordinary businesses & lifestyles. I love meeting new people and learning everything I can from them. So please, feel free to reach out:
You can learn a lot from a business’ restroom.
