Power to Prosperity

Power Play # 30 - Shift The Criteria for Success

My friend Rajesh Setty is at it again! He has published another eBook today called Defiant! - what's cool is that he made it free for us to download.  There are no registration requirements or things to sign up for to have access to this eBook - check it out http://www.activegarage.com/projects/defiant

One thing that stood out, while I was grazing through the book was this idea of Shifting the Criteria for how "Others" evaluate the value you offer them.  What makes this so powerful is that he offers us insight on a "game changing" play we can make to set us apart from all the others we would typically be competing with.

In today's economy that playing field could be very crowded, with so many people being laid off.  And another concentration factor that I have noticed; the many Forced Entrepreneurs that are responding to the market and offering solutions the problems people have.  Shifting the Criteria how people value the offer you make them is a game changer.

This is a different kind of book ... because it offers you an opportunity to design and build a powerful strategy for success. While Defiant! is about strategy he offers us 80 Tips and Ideas that will help.  There was one that stood out and resonated with me ... it is this idea of taking care of ourselves.  Check out Tip # 35 A letter from David Zinger, its page on 61.

Congrats Rajesh and Thanks for this gift to all of us.  I love it.

Power Play # 29 - Do YOUR Thing!!

I recently met Donna Browning of Sweaty Bands (www.sweatybands.com) and loved her story of doing her thing!  She is living her dream, doing what she loves to do and energizing a host of people along the way.

She started Sweaty Bands from a need she found herself.  Let me tell you, she is one tough mama!! and has a career doing exercise related activity, from Personal Training to Yoga, it was during these workouts, that she was getting so irritated with her hair falling on her face, that she decided to find a solution.  And a solution she did find.  Donna designed head bands with super utility and style.  She improved on a product that been around for decades, but took it to the next level and made them much more effective and totally cool and exciting. 

What makes her story additionally powerful is that she is not outsourcing her manufacturing to far away lands of cheap labor and other costs. Instead her business model leverages her friends and others locally in the Cincinnati area to manufacture these head bands for her.  She is keeping jobs here and is giving people an opportunity to be productive right here at home.   What she likes about this model is that it makes her feel connected with people in ways she did not expect, some of these women have come back and thanked her for the opportunity to save their home, with the recession we are in - every dollar earned is put to good use.

Congrats Donna and we wish you all the very best.  Here is a pic of Donna with my wife, Shino; that bought a few of them which she will be sending to Tokyo to our friends that do Yoga there.

Sweaty Bands make great gifts!!

Where is the harmony in your life?

Had the opportunity to spend most of the day with Uncle Jim and Aunt Katie in Kentucky today.  I always love chatting with them, they ground my thinking in so many ways.  One of the many conversations we had was around the subject of the market and our speculation of when things might come back ... which led to a conversation on "Come back to what?"

The good news is that we were in agreement, that the market should come back, be more robust and enable people to make money and have better lives, but in a way that was healthy.

They spoke of some one they know who was living the "New American Dream" that just got shattered.  A $800,000 home, boats, cars, two jobs and lots of bills.  Well both husband and wife lost their $100K+ jobs over a two year period and sort of lost most of it.

The story ends with the husband finding a job with Toyota and the wife get a job that pays 25% of what she was making before, they now live in a much smaller house ... BUT they are in a sense, glad that it all happened.  What they say is that they came out on the other side - living happier lives, feeling more in love with each other and overall in a much healthier place. With that wake up call they now focus on what is important; the joy, the harmony the love in the their lives.

All's I'm going to say to this is ... Amen!

Staying Grounded

Had an interesting conversation with my friend Chip yesterday, he was visiting from VA and we were talking about the market and what he was doing. I loved his perspective on the job transition he is currently making.  He recently joined a company that is doing about $1.4 Million a year. They do IT consulting for web sites and web applications with some big accounts like Whirlpool. But obviously many smaller ones (250 of them).

The idea I liked was their strategy to bring him on as their COO to help improve project delivery and customer experiences.  This would give him a fantastic opportunity to get to know everyone in the company.  He will also get to learn about their customers and their needs in this new market segment that he is going into.

The plan is for him to start here, help increase revenue and then take over as the President of the company a year or so later. I love that, right off the bat, everyone is clear that its about increasing revenue and he gets comped on it. As simple as this sounds, I do not see this often enough.  This way, he is prepared to take over the company when it is his time.

My experience has been that most often, business leaders do not have the long therm vision to bring someone on and chart their strategic development path in such a grounded manner, almost sounds Japanese!

Congrats Chip enjoy your new position and I wish you much success now and in the furture as President of the company.

There is a lot going on in Cincinnati

I keep getting amazed at how much there is going on in Cincinnati, now that I have moved back.  I just spend the morning meeting the good folks at the Hamilton County Development Company (www.hcdc.com) which is like a center for small business development, they provide all sorts of services for small businesses and entrepreneurs. 

Was surprised to see them house about 48 or 50 start-up here and they represent a healthy mix of tech and non-tech companies.  Check out their list of tenants here.

While there, I met some very excited people from a new Apparel company called Know.  They  were off to deliver a shipment of t-shirts to a new client. Their excitement was infectious.  Congrats guy.

Check out their website at ....

Sales is Sales is Sales is Sales!!

Just quick note to share some interesting conversations I have had out here in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Was talking to Nick Deloitte a businessman from Italy, that sells industrial diamonds, used in construction and gratine stone cutting tools .  We got into talking about my book and before long we were sharing information of sales and salesmanship.  We were in total agreement about all the basics.  That sales is always about solving a customers problem and now with the "Global Market" the way it is, it's time we focused on the basisc to help our customers minimize their risks and solve real problems for them.

Then yesterday, I was out fishing for Tarpon on one of the lagoons here in San Juan, and Dave the Captain was also talking about how his business is driven by the same rules; of giving his customers - mainly the tourists like me that visit the Island, a fantastic experience.  And if he did that well and gave them a fantastic experience, they might just right on their blog about what a great guy he was ... helping him drive business and profits ... Check out Magic Tarpon, the owner is Armando and they are on the web at www.puertoricomagictarpon.com

Thats me and my nephew on one of the Magic Tarpon boats

Then last night, I was talking to a retired Sears sales executive (had worked there for 41 years) at a friends party and between Mojitos and the Salsa dancing, we got talking about salesmanship and were "on track" again with the basics.  He also told me it was always about solving your customer's problems and that being of service and creating positive customer experiences was the surest way of having people come back for more.

Finally, this evening I met three lovely ladies in Old San Juan; they were eating at the same restaurant me and my wife were at - Cafe el Punto and before long we got talking about sales.  I had overheard them talking about the subject and asked if they were sales pros, they were!!  The cool part was they thought they had visited my blog, because my name sounded familiar.   They were from Huston and Ft Lauderdale and agreed that things had changed and it was back to the basics so some extent.

It has been cool to chat with people from different back grounds and different countries and realize that there are some strong similarities in how our different markets work, Sales is Sales is Sales is Sales and there are some things that ARE WORKING ... So I submit to you, the market has changed and so must we. 

Power Play # 27 - Find Ways to Help Other People

Hope you guys and gals are having a good weekend.  I was ready to go to bed this Saturday evening, but kept having this recurring thought in my head. It is nothing new, but is something that I have been thinking about recently. It's this idea of helping others.  I find that it taps into a very primal aspect of our psyche and is inherently natural for us to do.

It is my belief that from the earliest of days we have been walking this planet as Homosapians, we have been helping each other.  I believe we have been doing this for thousands of years and then as we found religion and other such systems of thinking - things go messed up.  But let's not go there. 

What I do know is that it is a good thing to help people. From a feel good perspective for sure, but also from a place of power and for the sake of accomplishing something in life.  Partner with people you trust, align your goals, your objectives and the things you want to accomplish and make a commitment to work together, dream together, plan and then compete as a team in the market place.

Tap into the leverage that is possible when you start moving with others towards the same or similar goals.  Think about it - we have grown so alone in our crowded cities.  Everybody wants to go the distance alone and not bother their friends.  My gosh!  where is this going? A few decades ago we stopped dropping in on our friends, now we call before we come over.  Did you know in Japan, calling your friends is now as intrusive as dropping in on your friends, so they just text message each other.  AND ... they have one of the highest suicide rates in the world; about a 100 people a day.

Build your sense of observation, your attention to what is going on around you and your awareness of things and people and help whenever it makes sense.  In the world of business and sales this is also a powerful mood to move with. Stay true to your sense of purpose and help people along the way.  You will notice a shift in the quality of conversation you have with people.

Power Play # 26 - Watch Your Diet

As simple as this might sound - heed this idea my friends.  We have all heard the concepts of "You are what you eat" and "Treat your body like a temple", etc.  Yes, yes and yes ... then why are restaurants like McDonald's, Taco Bell, Starbucks and others successfully selling us stuff that is not good for our bodies, these temples we call ourselves?

I have no comment on all that - because I believe we have responsibility to conduct ourselves in a way that works for us.  We have a right to do whatever we want, eat whatever we want etc. BUT we do not have the right or the ability to avoid the consequences of our actions.

We are all competing in the market place in one way or another.  Many of us are busy and lead hectic lives.  We need to watch that too, but let's stick to food today.  A lot of us are regular travelers, some of you travel upwards of 50% of the time and given this; it is sometimes tough to find the right foods to eat.

Here are somethings to do:

Notice:
I have started watching my diet, I watch what I eat and try to eat less of the things that are bad for me.  Just last night, I started off eating some Vanilla ice cream; you know that late night urge for a snack; like we are on Auto Pilot.  Then I noticed what I was eating, I suddenly lost the taste for the ice cream - so I did something, I have never done before, I did not finish it, gave it to Shino my wife.

Choose:
Once you start noticing the foods you are reaching for; start choosing foods and things to drink that are better for you.  I started eating more salads and less carbs.  Lunches are now usually salads and instead of eating both slices of bread with my Eggs in the morning, I eat only one of the slices of bread.

Eat Less:
Bringing attention to what your body needs in terms of foods and taking care of your cravings in a positive way, brings attention to our cravings and then quite interestingly, you will notice you have more control over them.  It will become easier to be non-attached to your cravings and avoid unnecessary eating. A cup of tea, a glass of water, some nuts or fruit between meals, goes a long way.

Hope this helped, watch what you eat, savor your foods, chew well (31 times) This is another thing to do, just chewing well, will help you pay more attention to what you are eating.  This practice alone will change your relationship with food and move it closer to a healthier diet.

The challenge: 
Get a burger from McDonald's and chew it 31 times before you swallow.  I dare you, try it out and tell me what your experiences are like.

Power Play # 23 - Understanding Power Plays

A snippet from the workshop I recently did in June 2009. It is short and people at the workshop told me they liked this thinking. Hope you enjoy it. Have a good day and good weekend.

Power Play # 21 - Go Past Your Dips

For those of us that are committed to making our dreams come true, we need to understand the process of evolution - from idea and concept to maturity and profitability.  Seth Godin explains it well.

This is a short 5 minute video, worth the listen.

Thank you SellingPower.com for bringing us all this good information. 
Check out the rest of their videos.