Posted by:
Troy White
August 15, 2008
Issue #482
Fellow Business-Builder,
Can you believe August is almost gone?
Yeesh! That kinda flew by.
In between dealing with the insurance companies, estimators and police with our recent break-in, I found myself knee-deep in a brand new project for an exciting new client.
She has a program being released in a highly competitive field and hired me to help her find ways to grow her sales as fast as humanly possible.
Now a few details on the project:
- She is in Canada – and wants to focus on Canadian buyers (but the content applies to those who live pretty well anywhere).
- She has an amazing story (she went from $0 to $3 million in her first 6 months), and then another $3 million in the next 12.
- She is selling training in a field that is oversaturated with “gurus” – but she has no goal to be one. All she wants is to share the formula she used to create speed wealth like she did … rather than feeding people a little here – then upsell them to a little more – another upsell – a little more content, etc. She wants to give it all at once – for a sizable premium.
- She is the real deal and has proven to me time and time again she over-delivers.
- She is only offering the program three more times and then is out of it.
So, the foundation is set and I need to find out how to market her services, and who to market to.
We had discussed using online and offline media for maximum results in the timeline we set … and I think she really needs print materials mixed in to stand out from all the others.
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Posted by:
Troy White
August 8, 2008
Issue #477
Fellow Business-Builder,
Last Sunday night, while we slept, someone cut through the screen on a kitchen window, crawled through, rifled through a few things, opened one of the vehicles out in front of the house and went through the glove box and console, then stole the keys to the other vehicle (the dreaded minivan) and took off.
I woke up (fast) at 7:45 am when one of my 7-year-old daughters came in the room asking why all the doors in the house were "wide open." I ran out and sure enough the front screen door and main door were pried open.
The back doors the same.
** Something was most definitely wrong.
Then I noticed the kitchen window screen was cut, and the ledge below the window had been cleaned clear of all the photos that used to sit there.
Someone has been in the house - maybe was still there - and we had yet to figure out what was stolen. I see my laptop still sitting there. An iPod and a cell phone both lay on the kitchen counter. Cash still sitting on my tabletop in the bedroom.
Luckily everyone is safe and sound.
In a case like this, anything could have happened.
The person may have gotten startled and done something drastic.
One of the kids could have gone to the bathroom and ran into the thief.
Anything could have happened.
** Fortunately, nothing did.
A missing purse and minivan - who cares?
We are all fine - which is what really matters.
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Posted by:
Daniel Levis
August 6, 2008
Issue #475
Dear Web Business-Builder,
Despite all the doom and gloom we’re hearing these days about corporate bankruptcies … recession … collapsing currencies … skyrocketing fuel costs and inflation … and the wholesale slashing and burning of thousands of jobs in America today … not everyone is feeling the crunch.
More kitchen-table millionaires are emerging from the carnage than at any other period in history …
For those who understand the true nature of the gut-wrenching change our world is struggling through … there has never been a better time to enter the entrepreneurial fray with both guns blazing.
A whole new, Internet-enabled way of doing business is emerging … while the old-guard, industrial-age way of doing business is cracking at the seams.
You see it happening all around you. And nowhere is it more apparent than at the customer touch points of commerce … where consumers are rebelling against the old guard in ever increasing numbers.
Sales and profits at such companies will be pummeled into oblivion. Many will simply cease to exist as their customers go running to a whole new breed of business that beats to an entirely different drummer.
One of the driving forces behind this consumer revolt is the fact that the world has become astonishingly more competitive.
Rapid advancements in communications and computing technology are making vertical integration unnecessary, thereby toppling barriers to business entry.
The trend is toward smaller, nimbler, horizontally-integrated businesses.
Where in the past, transactional fiction meant a company sought to control as many of the elements of production and distribution as it possibly could … centralizing command … standardizing products … concentrating resources … and gobbling up capital to acquire other companies in an eternal quest for “economies of scale” … these things are in many cases no longer an advantage.
Now a guy in his basement can create a virtual corporation based almost entirely on outsourcing, often with little or no outside funding.
Invariably these small, horizontally-integrated businesses find it much easier to stay focused on what really matters — finding and keeping customers. While the large, vertically-integrated dinosaurs worry about such things as shareholder value, mergers and acquisitions, and frantically struggle to rescue the bottom line.
Is it just me, or have you noticed the flagrant disregard for customers displayed by these old guard companies lately?
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Posted by:
Troy White
August 1, 2008
Issue #472
Fellow Business-Builder,
My driving passion is water and boats. I was born in the prairies and on the edge of the Rocky Mountains. We have a few lakes within a two-hour drive.
And yet, I am one of the statistics.
Calgary, land-locked as it is, is #3 in North America and #1 in Canada for boat sales per capita. So there are a LOT of us that have a passion to be on the water.
I took the plunge and bought my first boat in 2007. Rather than spending a fortune, I decided to buy used and learn my docking, towing and driving lessons on a boat that doesn’t care if I put a ding or two into it.
As soon as I bought it – my passion intensified and grew.
Rather than my typical one week vacation, I took three weeks – ALL on the water.
This year, another three weeks is planned.
To me, water is my way of rejuvenating the soul and experiencing true relaxation and freedom.
It is my true passion.
And it is driving me towards my dream faster than ever.
I want more water – more often – and I am busting my butt in business to experience it.
WHAT’S YOUR PASSION?
You must find it if you don’t know it.
It will empower you to attain your dreams faster.
It will keep you going in the bad times.
It will keep you motivated in the sluggish times.
It will keep your dreams alive and keep you on track to achieve your goals.
Without a driving passion, you become one of “the 95% group.” People without goals, dreams or ambitions. People who will retire dead broke. People who will constantly go through life whining about their circumstances and “bad luck.”
You’ve heard the stats about what goal setting does – so have you set yours?
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Posted by:
Troy White
July 25, 2008
Issue #467
Fellow Business-Builder,
Thanks for all the great comments from last week.
Actually, as you read this, I am sitting on the beach in beautiful Shuswap Country in British Columbia.
In an hour, we are headed out on the water on Sparkles (the affectionate name my twin 7-year-old daughters have given our boat).
One thing I learned last year, that continues to benefit me and my family, is that sometimes you just have to take the plunge and do something you have always wanted to do, even if it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Living in Calgary, I am land-locked.
There are no real lakes or water around here for a boat.
Which explains why I have always wanted a boat – the “grass is greener” thing applies everywhere.
So last year we bit the bullet and bought a ski boat.
Most people thought I was CRAZY owning a boat in a city not even remotely close to water.
Thanks to my purchase, I took more time off last summer (three weeks) than I took in the previous three years combined. Buying my toy forced me to get out and enjoy it more …. And I loved every second of it along the way.
I am not alone either …
Get this … Calgary, a city of 1 million people with no water to be found, has the highest boat sales per capita than any other city in – are you ready - - NORTH AMERICA.
We buy more boats here than those who live ON the water!
Crazy.
But understandable.
There is a lot of money in Calgary (big oil town – and you know what is happening with the price of oil) … and people here like to spend their money on toys … boats being the #1 choice.
My point here is …
… Find that motivation … then take the plunge and just do it!
… Second, NEVER think you know a market, until you have done the research. Imagine a boat dealer never researching Calgary as a place to hang up their shingle … because there is no water. Meanwhile, their smaller competitor does the research, sees the proof, moves to Calgary and HAS THEIR BEST YEAR EVER.
All with knowing the truth.
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