Archive for Succcess

Book Recommendation…”Failure is Obsolete”

By Rob Minton · Comments (0) · Monday, March 4th, 2013

 

Hopefully if you’re reading this blog, you understand how important “testing” is in business. Well, I have a new book recommendation for you. The book is titled, “Failure is Obsolete – The Ultimate Strategy to Create Recurring Success in Your Business and in Your Life” and was written by Benji Rabhan who owns multiple businesses. This is a book you can download and read in a weekend, which is what I did.

The premise of the book is to TEST before making any significant decisions in your business. The author suggests that we should consider using this approach in all ares of our lives and I have to agree. From the book…

“Testing is all about gathering data involving actual behavior in the most low-risk, low-cost way possible. So you can pre-prove that your idea has legs without going through the time and expense of carrying out the entire idea to see if it’s successful.”

When you TEST before you make any significant changes, you can save yourself a great deal of time and a hell of a lot of money. A great real life example of why you should TEST before you make significant decisions might be JC Penny. I’m sure you’ve heard that JC Penny hired Ron Johnson from Apple and decided to completely change their marketing approach. Basically, they decided to eliminate all promotions and discounts. They quickly rolled these changes out to all of their stores with hopes to improve their revenues and market share.

Since this change, JC Penny has lost $4.3 billion in revenue when compared to the year prior to the change. They are now in the process of unwinding these changes and going back to their previous model of offering discounts, promotions and coupons. Had the experts at JC Penny invested $8.00 in this little book, they might have saved themselves from this significant loss. I’m not kidding. The reason why is because they could have designed a simple test to see how this new strategy worked before rolling it out to all of their stores. In other words, they could have pre-proved this approach BEFORE moving forward.

A few weeks ago, I was watching Shark Tank with my family. One entrepreneur pitched the Sharks on investing into his new Teddy Bear business. Apparently, he had spent $400,000 designing a Teddy Bear that you could record personal voice messages on remotely. The idea was traveling parents or family members could record personal messages for their children and grandchildren. The Sharks asked him what price he needed to sell the Teddy Bears at to make his projected profits. Thankfully, he knew this answer – $60 a bear! Their next question was…”How many Teddy Bears have you sold at this price point?”  His answer was 0. He had sold some Teddy Bears through Groupon at a discounted price, but none at their full retail price of $60. In other words, this guy invested $400,000 on this idea without having any idea if it would work. More than likely, this idea is not going to work and this poor fella is out big time.

Are you contemplating any significant changes in your business or personal life? If so, is there a way you can test these changes before moving forward? I’ll bet you can and you’ll see a few ideas in’ Benji’s book. I used one of the ideas in this book to test a new training program I was going to launch. In the past, I would have spent weeks creating all of the training materials. Once these materials were complete, I would then go to work marketing the new program hoping it would sell at a level to justify the time investment.

Instead, I marketed the training program on a limited basis as a simple test to see if it would sell first. This little test showed very quickly that the new training program would not sell at the level needed to move forward. My test pre-proved this idea was not a winner and I was able to cross the entire project off of my schedule. I saved well over 100 hours of my time, which is a significant savings.

In this book, you’ll see little ways to test just about everything. You can see how to test new marketing ideas, prospective new employees, web pages, lead generation advertisements, marketing funnels, and more. In fact, he even writes about why we should “test” renting a home before we buy it. You might consider “testing” a marketing campaign around this idea in your business!

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Categories : Marketing, Sales, Succcess, Time Management

My Own Prison…

By Rob Minton · Comments (0) · Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

Creed – My Own Prison
A court is in session, a verdict is in
No appeal on the docket today
Just my own sin
The walls are cold and pale
The cage made of steel
Screams fill the room
Alone I drop and kneel
Silence now the sound
My breath the only motion around
Demons cluttering around
My face showing no emotion
Shackled by my sentence
Expecting no return
Here there is no penance

For many years, I was diligent about protecting my cell phone number. However, over the last year or two, my cell phone number seemed to get loose and before long I was getting work related calls and texts constantly. I could be out to dinner with my family and in comes a text from a tenant about a plumbing problem. Buzz…buzz and another text comes in with another work related issue. I would hold off on responding to these issues, but began to realize I would think about the various issues buzzing in throughout our dinner. It became impossible to separate myself from work.

I was living in my own prison and there was no appeal on the docket.

In other words, my cell phone began to suck life away. I know the same is happening to you, too. Those of us in the real estate industry feel as if we need to be available for our clients 24/7. When we aren’t working (which is rare), we spend countless hours checking our phones for emails, texts and other messages. We are allowing our cell phones to slowly suck our lives away from us with each and every text, call, alert, or email. We create our own prison with no release date.

Our cell phones should be used for our convenience, not the convenience of everyone else. This means we should use our cell phones to enhance our lives, not distract our lives. If you would like to be released from your own prison, follow these steps and you’ll be free within a week.

1. Change Your Outgoing Voice Mail Greeting:

“Hi this is YOUR NAME and thank you for calling. I am no longer using this phone number and my new phone number is OFFICE PHONE NUMBER OR VOICE MAIL NUMBER. If you would still like to talk with me, please call me at this new phone number. If you leave a message on this phone number you just dialed, I will not get it and will not be able to return your phone call. Thank you for your understanding and I do apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Once again, my new phone number is OFFICE PHONE NUMBER OR VOICE MAIL NUMBER.”

2. Make Your Cell Phone Number Private:

Since our cell phones are for our convenience, it is important to block our number so that it cannot be captured by those we call. This way you can make out going calls and keep your number protected. If you need to call family or a friend, you can unblock your number and make the call. Or another option would be to simply let family and friends know that your calls will be blocked going forward. Yes, I know blocking and unblocking your phone number is a pain in the ass, but it is worth it for the peace you gain in the process.

3. Use Your Office Phone (not your cell phone) for the Majority of Out Going Calls:

I have a separate phone number in my home office with voice mail attached. I now use this phone for 99% of my out going phone calls. This phone number is not blocked so if someone calls me back, their calls automatically go to my office number, not my cell phone. This also will help you condense work to work hours because you’ll be returning calls from your office.

4. Remove Your Cell Phone Number From Business Cards & Marketing Materials:

Under no circumstances should you publish your cell phone on any marketing materials including business cards, flyers, advertisements, or for sale signs. You are trading your life away to every Tom, Dick or Harry who can interrupt you for any reason whatsoever. This is your life, not theirs. Protect it as if it were the most valuable asset you have, because it is. Use your office phone number on all promotional materials and return phone calls from your office.

5. Return Office Voice Mail Messages in a Timely Manner:

Now that we have all calls going to your office phone instead of your cell phone, return these calls in a timely manner. I try and return calls twice a day. Typically I return calls between 11 am and 12 noon and between 4 and 5 pm. This step is very important because if you don’t return their calls promptly, they will start calling your cell phone again. Train everyone that you will respond to calls to the new number. They will continue calling the number you respond from and it is critically important to respond to calls promptly from your office phone number.

6. Never Return a Call or Message Left On Your Cell Phone:
The first rule of fight club is… there is no fight club. The most important rule for exiting your own prison is… never return a call or message someone makes to your cell phone.

Just as with the step above, never ever return a phone call or message left on your cell phone. If you do, you will train the person that they can get to you through your cell phone. You have to ignore ALL incoming work phone calls and messages on your cell phone. This is not easy, but vitally important. If you break down and return a call to your cell phone, they will begin using your cell phone again and you’ll soon be in a prison of your own making.

7. Remove Work Email Accounts from Your Cell Phone

Save work emails for when you’re working. Delete your work email accounts from your phone. The reason I’m suggesting you delete the email accounts from your phone is because it is almost impossible to not check your email when you have an extra minute or two. I do not have the will power to not check it, so I have eliminated it completely. Checking work emails on your phone is a very slippery slope. I have a separate email account for friends, family, and newsletters that I enjoy reading. I do check this email on my phone, but it is free of work emails.

8. Stop Work Related Texts

Instead of sending work related texts, switch to sending emails when you’re working. This way when the recipient responds, they’ll be responding by email and there incoming email will not distract you from living. You’ll get their response the next time you work. When you receive a work related text, send a reply asking the person to use your work email address.

I just went through this process with my cell phone and within 7 days, I had peace back in my life again. I have walked away from my prison. The good news is you can walk away from your own prison, too.  It will take a week or two to train everyone to use your office number instead of your cell phone.

Now I realize most of you who read this will not follow these steps. You’ll falsely believe that you must be accessible 24/7. You will continue to let others control you life. However, a very small percentage of you will actually implement these simple steps. Those of you who decide to take your life back will soon have a great deal of peace back in your lives.

Related Articles:

The Dude Abides

How to Abide in Business

The Goal of Business

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How to Abide in Business

By Rob Minton · Comments (0) · Monday, December 10th, 2012

In my previous article titled, “The Dude Abides” I suggested we should all consider abiding like Mr. Jeffrey Lebowski. To “abide” means to slow down and take it easy. I realize this suggestion may differ from my previous writings and I thought I would share a little background on this topic for those of you who have an interest in abiding.

Several years ago, Tim Ferriss posted an article on his blog about using the philosophy of Stoicism as a guide for entrepreneurs. In his article, he shared the following quote from Seneca:

“There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living; there is nothing harder to learn.”

Well, when I read this post, I really didn’t fully grasp what Seneca meant when he put this idea to paper. At the time I initially read this quote, I was the busy man fighting to achieve my various business and wealth goals. The majority of books I read were business and marketing books. I worked 7 days a week and was proud of my work ethic. I honestly viewed myself as a work machine.

Tim’s post led me to reading “The Shortness of Life” by Seneca. One thing led to another and I began reading philosophy book after philosophy book. This was a major shift for me and I began to think differently about life. I have always felt we have one shot at life and it makes a great deal of sense to try and get it right. Who wants to face their last few hours with regret on how they invested their time?

One of the biggest ideas repeated through almost every single philosophy book is…

Wealth accumulation is not a worthwhile pursuit.

So I began to struggle with the ideas of philosophy and business, because they seemed to conflict. Every business book I studied focused on increasing revenues and profits. Every philosophy book I studied focused on how to live life well by changing how we think and to fight the urge to pursue money, material “doodads”, and wealth.

The big question that kept swirling around in my head was, “How do I build a business (or businesses) and use philosophy as a way of life?” Now I haven’t mastered what I’m about to share with you, but I think it may be helpful, so I’m going to share it anyhow. I honestly do not know if I will ever master these steps; however, I hope to improve more and more with each passing year. Seneca was definitely correct when he wrote…”there is nothing harder to learn.”

1. Change your goal(s).

For most of my career, I set very specific business goals. These goals included number of leads generated, number of leads converted to clients, number of sales, commissions earned and wealth acquired. Goals such as these are very important, if the focus is money and wealth. However, if the goal becomes living a good life, these goals may become problematic.

To eliminate these problems before they occur, consider shifting your goals to something more valuable – learning how to live.

Yes, we will still work and build our businesses, but $$$ will not be our focus. Instead our focus shifts to slowing down and enjoying life. It’s important to understand we enjoy life in our thoughts, not our bank accounts.

2. Slow Down.

I have always been a very impatient person. I do not like waiting for anything. For many years, I thought this helped me in business because I would simply make things happen instead of waiting for them to happen. The old “Money Follows Speed” thing. Well, I now finally understand there is NO DAMN URGENCY.  It is impossible to enjoy life when you’re going 100 miles an hour trying to do too many things at once. Slow down and understand everything will be okay. It really will. Take time to smell the roses. Take time to play tag with your kids. Take time to learn a musical instrument. (I am taking acoustic guitar lessons. They are very challenging!) Take time to read philosophy books. Take time to enjoy the people in your life. All relationships end in loss, so enjoy every second you have with the people you love.

Yes, continue to work to improve your business. However, understand there is no urgency. We create urgency by the importance we place on things. Eliminate or reduce the importance and the urgency disappears.

3. Stop Creating Drama in Every Area of Our Lives

We create drama when we make a BIG deal out of little things. We have a tendency to create a lot of drama in our lives and sometimes we don’t even realize we are the drama starters. I used to think others created all of the drama, but I now clearly see that I’m very good at it, too. Before doing something, take a second and ask yourself these questions…

- Is this really necessary?
- Will this call/email/text cause drama?
- Is this really a BIG deal, or can I simply let it go and let things happen as they will?

A great example I can remember from a Disney vacation occurred when I tried to get fast passes for my family for the new Toy Story ride. I had heard that fast passes go quickly, so I got up early and went to the park on my own. I took the park tickets for all of my family members and my plan was to get fast passes for everyone. Well, I entered the park and rushed the fast pass machine. I couldn’t get fast passes for my family and this was because they hadn’t scanned their park tickets at the gate. I went back to the gate and learned that I couldn’t scan their tickets without each person being with me. So I ended up not getting fast passes and wasting a ton of time in the process. I initiated this drama and suffered the consequences. The rest of my family slept in and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the resort. I didn’t because I decided to initiate this drama by turning the fast pass tickets into a BIG thing.

4. Learning Detachment

Over the years, I have allowed myself to get so wrapped up in the outcome of just about everything. This has caused a great deal of unnecessary stress and unhappiness. One of the ways to abide in business is to learn to detach yourself from what happens in your business. I realize this may sound crazy, but you’ll find a lot more happiness. As an example, let’s assume you have a listing appointment tomorrow. Try and detach yourself from the outcome of this appointment. If you get the listing, great. If you don’t get the listing, great. This way you cannot lose and you’ll hopefully avoid some disappointment if you walk away without the listing. This is the…“Fuck it, lets go bowling” mindset from The Big Lebowski movie.

If any of this has any meaning to you for your life, I would like to recommend one more book. The book is titled, “A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy” by William Irvine. It is probably the best book on how to live life well I have read over the last few years.

DISCLOSURE: The links in this article are not affiliate links.

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Categories : Books, Business Re-invention, Goal Setting, Succcess, Time Management
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The Dude Abides

By Rob Minton · Comments (0) · Monday, November 26th, 2012

 

Last year, I watched the movie “The Big Lebowski” on Netflix and have been thinking about it ever since. In fact, The Dude has had a major impact on how I think about work, money, and life. I realize this might sound a little odd, considering The Dude wasn’t a go getter in any sense whatsoever. When you watch the movie the first time, you get an idea that there is something bigger that we can take from it. The problem is that it is hard to grasp at first. Well, if you dig a little further, you start to realize that The Dude is one of the happiest guys even though he doesn’t have a job, has no money, and has no savings. Oh and he is a little behind on his rent, too.

Somehow The Dude is just happy living. He has doesn’t care about money, wealth, or social standing and this is so refreshing when you step back and think about the big picture. We’ve all been programmed to want more and this typically causes us a great deal of grief. The saying, “The dude abides”, basically means that The Dude just takes things easy. He doesn’t get too worked up over anything and when he does get worked up, he quickly adjusts back into his carefree attitude. “Fuck It, Lets Go Bowling.”

Over Thanksgiving, I found an amazing book about The Dude titled, “The Abide Guide: Living Like Lebowski.” Here’s a quote from the book:

“Ultimately we all get out of this thing cheap. Regardless of all that we might acquire or achieve in life, we are all pisspoor in death, and recognizing that might allow us to recognize the priceless value of life. Our lives are our only true asset, and aspiring toward greatness, or power, or glory, or gold utterly misses the point of what we’re supposed to do with our seed capital. Living is the end in itself. It is the greatest art imaginable, and everything that helps us appreciate it is an investment in our modest temporary checking account and the club of value.”

Pretty deep stuff, if you ask me.

Some have been wondering where I’ve been. I don’t post much anymore. I am not releasing new products. I’m not on Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media websites. I don’t care about how many blog comments I get, Facebook “likes,” Facebook “fans” or any other digital ranking. I’ve slowed down and am trying my best to abide. I am no longer chasing money, wealth, or social status in the guru world. I’m simply trying to enjoy life. It is not easy to make this change, because everything thing we see and hear sucks us into the rat race and turns us into “sinners” who don’t abide.

Here’s one more quote from The Abide Guide that I wanted to share about The Dude:

“Remember that the Dude’s quest is not for a grail, after all, or money, or even his ratty old rug. His mythological “hero’s journey” is to remain utterly lazy and relaxed even when the world makes it virtually impossible for him to do so.”

So why write this post?

Well, I’m hoping you’ll watch “The Big Lebowski”, if you haven’t seen it already. I’m also hoping that you might read “The Abide Guide”, too. If you do, you’ll end up slowing down and enjoying life more. Life is short and can change in an instant. We can’t take bank accounts with us when things come to an end, so why not take things a little easier, slow down, relax and go bowling.

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Categories : Books, Fun, Money Management, Succcess
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98% Market Share – How A Pioneer Built an Amazing Business

By Rob Minton · Comments (1) · Monday, August 13th, 2012

 

At the age of 9, Henry John Heinz was making, bottling and selling horseradish sauce using his mother’s recipe. He continued to build this business and by the age of 17 was grossing $2,400 a year. This was a large sum of money at the time. He continued to working to build this business with a partner and hit hard times in 1875, when he ended up filing for bankruptcy. This bankruptcy was very difficult for him and he was depressed for many months, because he let down suppliers who trusted him.

However, the following year, he started another company selling horseradish sauce with his mother, brother and cousin. Henry worked every role in this new business including the field, warehouse, processing and sales. Henry slowly rebuilt his confidence in this new business. As his confidence improved, he began experimenting with new products and ended up creating a very tasty ketchup. He didn’t invent ketchup, he simply brought the existing ketchup to a new level.

Unfortunately, his new ketchup wasn’t selling very well and he realized it was because customers wanted to “see” what they were buying. The packaging used for ketchup at this time didn’t allow customers to see the sauce inside. So, Henry started bottling his new ketchup in clear bottles and sales began to increase. He even strategically placed a white label at the top of the bottle to cover the oxidation that occurs at the top of the bottle.

As sales of his ketchup increased, Henry built a large factory in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh. He kept his factory clean, organized and focused on providing a quality “pure” product. He took this cleanliness to such an extreme that employees received daily manicures in order to keep their hands clean and the product germ free. He created a “family atmosphere” at his plant and had many loyal employees for decades.

He also developed an elaborate sales system for his ketchup designed to get new customers to simply try his ketchup for free. He believed that if someone tasted his ketchup they would buy it. His sales system included little sample packages that included ketchup, plate and a cardboard spoon.

During this time, railroads were giving businesses the ability to expand. Henry leveraged the railroads in two ways:

1. Getting larger supplies of fresh vegetables to his factory for production.

2. Traveling the country promoting and selling his product to grocery and general stores using his sales system.

In 1893, Henry wanted to feature his products and offer samples at the Chicago World Fair. When they arrived, they were disappointed because their designated location was on the 3rd floor. Henry knew that nobody would climb three flights of stairs to visit his booth. On the fly, he decided have small gold foil tags printed that read:

“Bring this to the Heinz Booth on the 3rd Floor for a FREE Prize!”

This idea led to hundreds of thousands of people coming to his booth and his booth became the hit of the entire fair.

As his business grew, competitors began copying his methods. This was at a time when there were no free trade rules and many competitors operated in a fraudulent manner. In order to stifle these competitors, he purchased all of the bottles on the market so that his competitors couldn’t bottle their ketchup. He had so many bottles at one point, he loaded them onto a large barge and sank it in the Allegheny River. Another strategy he used to eliminate competitors was to market how pure and clean his products were compared to others.

There were no consumer protection laws and many people would become sick from purchased food that was contaminated. Henry lobbied for new laws to protect consumers from toxic additives. He won the backing of large newspapers and magazines as a consumer advocate while most businesses were against new legislation. When the food act was brought into law in 1906, his company flourished because it already followed all of the required guidelines. Many of his competitors were forced out of business. In this advertisement, you’ll see how he leverages the quality of his products:

(Click to enlarge)

Henry’s wife was sick and he wanted to take her on a trip to Germany. On the trip, he scheduled many “product demonstration” stops where he would allow businesses in London to sample his ketchup. His elaborate sales system worked and he began shipping his products overseas at a time when Europe didn’t import food from the states. Henry was always looking to expand his company’s reach and increase his market share.

On a trip to New York, Henry saw a billboard advertising “23 shoe styles.” He began counting the number of products his company developed and on his count locked into the number “57.” He went on to use this number in all of his advertising. By advertising 57, he was showing the public that his company had numerous products and turned into a “Unique Selling Proposition.”  He added “57″ to all of the product labels, billboards, advertisements and even had it etched into white sand stone on hillsides throughout the country. ” The “57″ has become one of the greatest marketing ideas throughout history.

At one point, Henry ended up purchasing the house where his original business started. He lost this house in the bankruptcy. He had this house moved on to a barge and floated it down the Allegheny River to his factory. The was a huge publicity stunt as thousands lined the river banks to see.

Henry once said the secret to success was…

“To do a common thing, uncommonly well!”

Most would attribute this saying to Henry’s ability to making ketchup and other sauces. However, I think it might be better to attribute this saying to Henry’s ability as a marketer. He was an exceptional marketer. Although Henry didn’t invent ketchup, he ended up marketing it better than anyone in the world. The Heinz Company now has 33,000 employees worldwide and over 8 billion in annual sales. They currently control 98% of the market share for ketchup in the United States.

Here are 6 takeaways to consider:

1. Failure is temporary. Heinz filed for bankruptcy and within a short period of time had dusted himself off and started over.
2. You don’t have to invent something “new” to be successful in your business. You simply have to become a better marketer.
3. Do you have a unique selling proposition? You should. Why should someone do business with you instead of someone else?
4. In order for any business to be successful, it must have a system for selling.
5. Leverage every opportunity to your advantage.
6. Work hard to earn and keep the trust of your clients.

Other Related Reading:

The Best Books for Entrepreneurs

A Page from John Rockefeller’s Play Book

Use Sales Assets to Build Your Dream Business

If you liked this article, consider test driving my Master Marketer Membership here.

 

 

 

 

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