Was 2016 A Bad Year?

A common meme
on social media
is 2016 was one of the worst years
in recent history.

But was it?

One of the indicators
people point to
is the number of celebrity deaths.

Yes, it was high
but so was
the number of celebrity births.
More people were born
than died in 2016
yet no one talks about the births.

This is true of almost every factor.
We look at the divorces,
not the marriages,
the job losses,
not the new jobs,
the disasters,
not the happy surprises.

When you think about this year,
think about
both the positives
and the negatives.

The biggest positive?
You’re here.
You can make 2017
the best year ever.

It’s Not Luck That Gives You Another Chance

People call me
lucky.
Yes, I AM lucky.
Some of my success
is definitely due to luck.

But a bigger part
is due to hard work
and persistence.

Che Marville
shares

“It’s not luck
that makes a good life.
It’s effort, skill,
and resilience.

It’s not luck
that gives you another chance;
it’s courage and faith.

It’s everything
that is already in you
applied to this very moment.”

Don’t sit back
and wait for luck.
Get to work.

Salma Hayek And Mistakes

If you grow
as a person,
if you try new things,
if you get
out of your comfort zone,
if you take a risk,
any risk,
you WILL make mistakes.

That’s simply part
of that experience.
It is the price
of making a difference,
of being an interesting person,
of living life to the fullest.

Salma Hayek,
actress,
shares

“Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.
It is better
than to do nothing
and learn nothing
and not evolve.”

There are worse things
in life
than making a mistake.

Why Wait To Start?

Writers have an event
in November
called
NaNoWriMo.
Everyone is given
the goal of
writing 50,000 words in the month.

The unpublished writers
wait until November 1st.
They’re most concerned
about ‘winning’ the contest.

The published writers
start writing
as soon as they have a great idea.
They don’t ‘win’ the contest
but they achieve their goals.

Right now,
there are millions of people
waiting for January 1st
to start working on
their goals for 2017.

I’m starting today.
Don’t wait.
Join me.
Start today.

Do A Little Bit More

When I first started writing
semi-seriously,
I’d write 100 fresh words a day.
That was it.
100 fresh words.

At first,
that was a tough goal
but as writing became a habit,
the goal became easier.

Then I increased that goal
by 20 words.
When that became comfortable,
I increased it again.

By the time I quit
my full time business gig,
that goal had increased
to 500 words a day.

Seth Godin
shares

“Each of us is capable of
just a little more.
A little more patience,
a little more insight,
a little more generosity.

And if you can do a little more,
then, of course,
you can repeat those changes
until you’ve done a lot more.”

If you do a little bit more
every day,
you’ll eventually be
an unstoppable force.

We’re Emotional Beings

My readers (customers)
spend money
on my books (products)
for one sole purpose
– to feel.

They want to laugh
or cry
or get that awww… feeling
or become angry.

Every page, every word
in my books
is designed
to provide the emotion
my readers are paying for.

Seth Godin
shares

“We’re rarely reasonable.
Most of the time,
we’re afraid,
lonely,
angry,
shameful
or
hungry.

Sometimes, we can address
those emotions
by seeing that reason
can help our problem,
but mostly,
we start and end
with the emotion.

Recognize it.

Pause to allow it
be seen and heard.”

Don’t underestimate
the power of emotion.

Published
Categorized as Marketing

A Gift From Your Business

If you could receive
one gift
from your business
today,
what would it be?

Would it be income?
A chance to change the world?
Notoriety?
More time with your family?

Close your eyes
and think about it
for a couple minutes.

THAT is your ultimate goal
for the business
you’re building.
THAT one thing
should be guiding
your decisions.

Know what you want.
That will increase the odds
you’ll receive
that gift.

The Slow Build Product

Some types of romance novels
are quick readership builds.
Release them
and they either do well
right away
or they never do well.

There are other types
of romance novels
that are slow readership builds.
They take months
of constant marketing
to build their readerships.

Big publishers
aka big companies
need to get a return
for their investors right away.
They think in quarters,
in three month cycles.

They don’t normally touch
the slow build type
of novels.
If they do,
they usually stop marketing them
long before
they find their readerships.

THESE are the type of novels,
I, as a small business,
as a self publisher,
like to produce.
The market is still there
but there’s less competition
and the folks who play in that space
don’t have the big business advantage.

In your industry,
there are likely slow build products
also.
Consider them.

Clearing Your Schedule

It is two days
until Christmas.
Whether you celebrate it
as a holiday
or merely as a family day,
consider clearing your schedule
for the day.

Spend it with the people
you love
or/and spend it doing the things
you love.

That might mean
working like a fury today
and tomorrow.

That’s what I’m doing.
I’m writing the words
(developing product),
promoting and selling
so I can minimize work
on the 25th.

(I can’t eliminate all work
as the 25th and the 26th
are traditionally the two best sales days
for eBooks
in the entire year.)

Work hard today
so you can take it easy
on Sunday.

Against A Person’s Best Interest

Yesterday,
we talked about
how people are selfish.
They go into deals,
even business deals,
with personal agendas.

The thing is…
unless there’s huge personal incentive
to deviate from these agendas,
they won’t budge on them.
Ever.

People are unlikely
to take action
that will personally harm them
physically, financially, emotionally.

Donald Trump,
for example,
will never increase his own taxes.
He has been fairly open
with his investments
and he won’t take actions
to harm them.
He might be unpredictable
in other ways
but he will be predictable
in that.

When you’re building your business,
ensure that either
your business helps your associates
achieve their personal agendas
or
you give them
sufficient personal incentives
to craft a new personal agenda.

Published
Categorized as Sales