Month: May 2015

One of my pen names
had a tough 2014.
I took a chance
with a year long project
and the project didn’t sell.

Many of my buddies
grew their readerships.
I had to work my a$$ off
to keep
my readership
(of past releases)
within the same range.

Why did I work so hard?
Because if I don’t
have a similar readership,
I’ll be dropped
as a promotion buddy.

It’s great
to decide to stay the same size
but realize
that if your partners grow
and you don’t,
they won’t be your partners
for long.

Everything about your brand
says something
to prospects,
even scent.

Gord Woodward,
in May/June 2015
The Costco Connection,
shares

“If your shop is very small,
an ocean scent
or an apple-cucumber combination
can make it seem spacious.
If you have a huge shop,
a fireplace
or barbecue smoke scent
can make it feel homier.”

Be conscious
about how your space,
your product,
your brand smells.

One of the questions
we entrepreneurs should ask ourselves
is
‘How big do I want to grow
my business?’

You might be thinking
‘This is a dumb question.
Bigger is better.’

Not always
and not for everyone.

In the writing world,
a writer with a Fifty Shades Of Grey hit
lives a much different life
than
a writer with 30 lesser selling
yet still money making releases.

The FSoG writer has little privacy.
Readers, writers, the world
has different expectations from her.
Her day consists of even less writing
than the day of the 30 release writer.

It is a different business
and hopefully a conscious decision.

Barbara Mowat,
in May/June 2015
The Costco Connection,
shares

“Whatever the motivation
for growth,
the decision to grow
should be a decision,
not something
that just happens by itself.
This is a managerial decision
about how best to position the company
in the present,
for the future,
based on the experience
of the past.”

How big did you want to be?

When I talk to a certain loved one,
it doesn’t matter
how ill I’m feeling,
she’s feeling worse.

I believe she thinks
telling me this
will make me feel better
about my situation.

It doesn’t.
I feel like she isn’t sympathetic,
isn’t listening,
isn’t being helpful.

Another friend,
however, might tell me
she’s felt like that
in the past
and what worked for her
cure-wise.

She hears my problem,
sympathizes with it
and then offers a solution.

When someone comes to you
with a problem,
don’t one-up it with problems of your own.
Offer some solutions.

I contributed to
a boxed set of stories
from different writers.
The idea was
that we would pool our marketing
and increase our exposure.

We ALL had other books,
we were trying to sell
at the same time
as this release.
It was expected
that we would promote
these other stories as well.

As long as we did our part
promoting the group effort,
no one minded.

The issue is,
in this information world,
slacking is obvious.
When a writer’s old release
sold more
than the new release she contributed
to the boxed set,
we knew she wasn’t promoting
the group effort.
This resulted in
bad feelings and
damage to her reputation.

We ALL have multiple projects
on the go.
No one expects 100%
of your concentration.
Doing your part,
however,
IS expected.

All of my key successes
in writing and in business
came my way
because of my relationships
with other people.

Ido Leffler,
Co-Founder & CEO of
Yoobi,
shares

“I can track every major success
in my life back to five people.
And when I talk to other successful people
and asked them the same question,
everyone tells me
they have a similar number.

Which means that
the difference between successful people
and less successful ones
comes down to five core relationships
they build.

Start building your core five today.”