Ursula Bauer,
author of the hot eBook Immortal Protector,
recently shared her tips on
how she juggled a corporate career,
family, blogging, and writing.
“It was all a matter of perspective,
I think, and perseverance,
along with a willingness
to reduce without mercy:
I wanted to write,
I wanted to publish,
I only had so many hours in my day.
What would contribute to that,
and what took away from that?”
Its all about focus and commitment.
Recently Wal-Mart announced
that they would be offering banking services
to their customers.
Why?
Because there is a market
and its lucrative.
Ed Kountz of Jupiter Research
points out that approximately 1 in 4 Americans
don’t have a traditional banking relationship.
These individuals
pay more for transactions
such as money transfers.
The number is higher in areas
with low to moderate income.
Exactly Wal-Mart’s target market.
When I hear an honest, semi-unflattering answer
in an interview,
I sit up and take notice.
Why?
Because this signals one of two possibilities.
One is that the person is an idiot.
In which case,
my candidate screening process should be tightened.
The other is that the person is so damn good
that she can be honest
and still expect to land the job.
These are the candidates I love.
Larry Winget in his book “It’s Called Work For A Reason”
points out one bit of interview honesty he loves.
“When someone says
“I don’t really like working with others,”
hire her and give her an office with a door and
a lot of work to do and then watch it get done.”
According to communications professor Ray Hull,
the average adult talks about
170 to 190 words per minute.
The average central nervous system
processes information at about
120 to 124 words per minute.
This ability to process decreases after age 36.
The average age of a CEO is 56.
What does this mean?
Your boss is hearing only a fraction
of what you’re saying.
Slow it down.
On each of my other blogs,
I get at least a request a day from sites
asking for reciprocal links
or mentions
or offering me “free” posts.
I prefer not to link to strangers.
I prefer not to post guest pieces from strangers.
So what do I do?
I ask if they’re interested in completing
a short interview (3-5 questions)
via email.
I then post their answers,
linking back to them,
using them as “experts”
(everyone is an expert in something).
But wait, isn’t this a lot of work?
It would be if everyone said yes.
Fortunately for me,
only about 24% say “yes, send me the questions.”
And then 46% of those don’t bother answering them.
Was reading though Scott’s extensive article listing
on HelloMyNameIsScott.com and
loved his thoughts on describing what you do.
“When people ask you,
“So, what do you do?”
make your answer memorable, valuable and unique.
If their response isn’t
“Hmm, that’s interesting…” or “Cool!”
you need to rework your answer.
Remember, even the most boring jobs can be
explained in an UNFORGETTABLE way.”
We’re all experts on something and
when that expertise is combined with passion,
that’s when magic happens.
I once listened to an environmentalist
talk for a half hour about
the re-uses for styrofoam containers
…at a party
…and there was a crowd around him.
He was THAT passionate,
that interesting.
I was talking to a friend
in the early stages of
a company start up.
She has been busy, busy, busy
sampling her product.
She must have given out a thousand samples.
When asked,
she’ll tell you that her marketing is working.
Its not.
The true test of whether marketing
is working is in the sales.
She hasn’t sold a single product
and she is quickly becoming known as the sample lady.
Unless your product is marketing,
marketing is not the goal,
sales are.
Last night, during the Daytime Emmys,
you heard cast members of
The Guiding Light,
the longest running soap opera on American television,
thank Proctor & Gamble.
P&G owns a soap opera?
No, they don’t just own the show,
they helped create it.
Soap operas are called that
because of their sponsorship by soap companies.
And P&G has been affiliated with The Guiding Light
since that first radio broadcast in 1937.
A marketer’s dream.
A campaign lasting 70 years.
Stephen King’s goal is
to create passion for the product
(in this case, the stories).
Recently,
he compared his stories to heavy metal music.
Metal music’s message is…
“I’m going to clear out your head.”
“Don’t you be talking about sh** when I’m playing.”
His writing… “I want you to burn dinner.”
Are users so passionate about your product
that they burn dinner?
Who buys Father’s Day cards?
Children, right?
A no-brainer.
Or is it?
According to Greetingcard.org,
15% of all Father’s Day cards are bought
by wives for their husbands.
This is a huge secondary market
and should not be ignored.
As with any secondary market,
target the primary market (the kids)
but ensure that the product is suitable
for the secondary (the wives).