Most entrepreneurs are optimistic. But not necessarily realistic. Not surprisingly, they expect success with every action they take. But, that is not how the business world works.
For example, when most entrepreneurs run a single advertisement in a magazine, newspaper, or on the Internet, or send out a mailing, they are often shocked and discouraged at getting poor, or even non-existent results.
This view, while understandable, is completely unrealistic. It is a result of an attitude based entirely on flawed assumptions.
I’m perhaps the highest paid copywriter in the world. But no one, including me, hits a home run with every sales message. I can tell you I’m thrilled when I bat 300% (3 out of 10) on new products and/or new advertising program. My high batting average earns fortunes for myself and my clients.
But, approached correctly, you can create great wealth for yourself with a far lower batting average.
Plus, I can’t count the numerous advertising campaigns I’ve created that at first achieved poor results. Then, after going back to the drawing board and creating a new headline, or new offer, or new copy, turned a flop around into a big success.
Other hugely successful people experience similar results. Recently I spoke at Mark Joyner’s conference in Los Angeles, ”Survival Strategies for Tough Times.”
One of my fellow speakers was Joe Sugarman. Joe is undoubtedly one of the most successful entrepreneurs in America. He is known as a world-class marketer and copywriter. He is best known for his BluBlocker sunglass infomercial that has run for years. And also for electronic products in his company, JS&A, heavily promoted in space ads and by catalog.
In his presentation, Joe commented as follows: “I’m thrilled if one out of ten of my ads work, because this one product and ad can earn me a fortune.”
In actuality, I’d be deliriously happy if just one out of twenty ads, mail pieces or Internet offers were a home run.
Please note the vast difference in attitude between myself, Joe and entrepreneurs who are looking for the quick, instant success.
Sugarman is the best example I know for a wealth-building attitude that underlies his incredible success. Providing you have quality products people want, over time the willingness to keep digging until you find something that is profitable never fails. It’s as close to automatic as you can get in the business world. And it will work for you too.
You simply work the percentages. You test small, and then test again until you get a product and offer that works. Then you roll out big.
Bottom line. Don’t be discouraged by a few flops. Expect them. Honor them, as they are necessary. When you flop, just say ”next.” Each time you are one step closer to success.
The reality is that with new product and copy launches, there is no such thing as failure. You always get results. Plus, each test brings you critically important marketing information regardless of results.
Your correspondent,
Ted Nicholas
—————
“This article appears courtesy of THE SUCCESS
MARGIN, the Internet’s most valuable success and
marketing e-zine. For a complimentary
subscription, visit http://www.tednicholas.com/
Filed under copywriting, Self Improvement, Ted Nicholas by on Feb 7th, 2010. Comment. 
Most entrepreneurs are optimistic. But not necessarily realistic. Not surprisingly, they expect success with every action they take. But, that is not how the business world works.
For example, when most entrepreneurs run a single advertisement in a magazine, newspaper, or on the Internet, or send out a mailing, they are often shocked and discouraged at getting poor, or even non-existent results.
This view, while understandable, is completely unrealistic. It is a result of an attitude based entirely on flawed assumptions.
I’m perhaps the highest paid copywriter in the world. But no one, including me, hits a home run with every sales message. I can tell you I’m thrilled when I bat 300% (3 out of 10) on new products and/or new advertising program. My high batting average earns fortunes for myself and my clients.
But, approached correctly, you can create great wealth for yourself with a far lower batting average.
Plus, I can’t count the numerous advertising campaigns I’ve created that at first achieved poor results. Then, after going back to the drawing board and creating a new headline, or new offer, or new copy, turned a flop around into a big success.
Other hugely successful people experience similar results. Recently I spoke at Mark Joyner’s conference in Los Angeles, ”Survival Strategies for Tough Times.”
One of my fellow speakers was Joe Sugarman. Joe is undoubtedly one of the most successful entrepreneurs in America. He is known as a world-class marketer and copywriter. He is best known for his BluBlocker sunglass infomercial that has run for years. And also for electronic products in his company, JS&A, heavily promoted in space ads and by catalog.
In his presentation, Joe commented as follows: “I’m thrilled if one out of ten of my ads work, because this one product and ad can earn me a fortune.”
In actuality, I’d be deliriously happy if just one out of twenty ads, mail pieces or Internet offers were a home run.
Please note the vast difference in attitude between myself, Joe and entrepreneurs who are looking for the quick, instant success.
Sugarman is the best example I know for a wealth-building attitude that underlies his incredible success. Providing you have quality products people want, over time the willingness to keep digging until you find something that is profitable never fails. It’s as close to automatic as you can get in the business world. And it will work for you too.
You simply work the percentages. You test small, and then test again until you get a product and offer that works. Then you roll out big.
Bottom line. Don’t be discouraged by a few flops. Expect them. Honor them, as they are necessary. When you flop, just say ”next.” Each time you are one step closer to success.
The reality is that with new product and copy launches, there is no such thing as failure. You always get results. Plus, each test brings you critically important marketing information regardless of results.
Your correspondent,
Ted Nicholas
—————
“This article appears courtesy of THE SUCCESS
MARGIN, the Internet’s most valuable success and
marketing e-zine. For a complimentary
subscription, visit http://www.tednicholas.com/
I Already Feel LIke A Failure
Sonia and Johnny Truant speak about being ‘cool’ on their blogs.
What if I’m not cool?
Okay, I’m not cool and I just don’t come across as cool on my blog.
What do I do?
That’s the thread I started on a new membership site about how to blog.
To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much of a response… you know… being a rather uncool guy myself.
What a response I got.
Wow!
In just over five hours there’s four pages of replies.
The guys and girls on that new forum are certainly cool.
There are so many theories on what exactly is cool. A few I never really thought of, but they do make plenty of sense.
And I was just wondering what YOU think. What is cool to you?
I don’t mean what as in a physical thing, but the idea. Do you think you’re cool? I mean that in a nice way, of course.
Do others think you’re cool, and in what way? Do they tell you? Do they say what they think makes you cool?
And, if you think you’re cool – and if others think you’re cool – how do you feel about that?
I’d love to get your opinion on this surprisingly popular subject.
Filed under Motivational, Self Improvement, Uncategorized by on Feb 2nd, 2010. 6 Comments.
The gist of this is that in order to excel you need to work for it… and believe you can.
Filed under Motivational, Self Improvement by on Jan 27th, 2010. Comment.
Every now and again I see a story which makes me stop and think.
It makes me realise how lucky I am… and how much time and energy I’m wasting doing things I shouldn’t be doing.
And it makes me realise I could be doing a lot more.
More positive things.
Instead of complaining about where my life is going, it makes me realise I should be trying to change things for the better.
And you can’t change anything, for better or for worse, by sitting around moping and complaining.
You can’t change things by looking at others and wondering how they got where they are.
If you want to make a difference, YOU have to DO something about it.
This story about a young boy from Malawi, William Kamkwamba, is one of those stories.
Here is a boy who educated himself and made a windmill… from scraps… to supply electricity and water to his village.
If a boy, who had to leave school at the age of 14, could do this in what we in the West would consider a ‘backward’ society, what are we complaining about?
Then again, maybe it’s because we have a little too much comfort, and the wrong type of education, that we are stuck in a self-made rut.
I’ve reproduced the story below for your benefit – check it out.
I’m sure you’ll find it as inspiring as I did.
Malawi windmill boy with big fans
|
By Jude Sheerin
BBC News |
The extraordinary true story of a Malawian teenager who transformed his village by building electric windmills out of junk is the subject of a new book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
The extraordinary true story of a Malawian teenager who transformed his village by building electric windmills out of junk is the subject of a new book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
Self-taught William Kamkwamba has been feted by climate change campaigners like Al Gore and business leaders the world over.
His against-all-odds achievements are all the more remarkable considering he was forced to quit school aged 14 because his family could no longer afford the $80-a-year (£50) fees.
When he returned to his parents’ small plot of farmland in the central Malawian village of Masitala, his future seemed limited.
But this was not another tale of African potential thwarted by poverty.
Defence against hunger
The teenager had a dream of bringing electricity and running water to his village.
William Kamkwamba and one of his windmills Many, including my mother, thought I was going crazy – people thought I was smoking marijuana William Kamkwamba
And he was not prepared to wait for politicians or aid groups to do it for him.
The need for action was even greater in 2002 following one of Malawi’s worst droughts, which killed thousands of people and left his family on the brink of starvation.
Unable to attend school, he kept up his education by using a local library.
Fascinated by science, his life changed one day when he picked up a tattered textbook and saw a picture of a windmill.
Mr Kamkwamba told the BBC News website: “I was very interested when I saw the windmill could make electricity and pump water.
“I thought: ‘That could be a defence against hunger. Maybe I should build one for myself’.”
When not helping his family farm maize, he plugged away at his prototype, working by the light of a paraffin lamp in the evenings.
But his ingenious project met blank looks in his community of about 200 people.
“Many, including my mother, thought I was going crazy,” he recalls. “They had never seen a windmill before.”
Shocks
Neighbours were further perplexed at the youngster spending so much time scouring rubbish tips.
“People thought I was smoking marijuana,” he said. “So I told them I was only making something for juju [magic].’ Then they said: ‘Ah, I see.’”
Mr Kamkwamba, who is now 22 years old, knocked together a turbine from spare bicycle parts, a tractor fan blade and an old shock absorber, and fashioned blades from plastic pipes, flattened by being held over a fire.
“I got a few electric shocks climbing that [windmill],” says Mr Kamkwamba, ruefully recalling his months of painstaking work.
The finished product – a 5-m (16-ft) tall blue-gum-tree wood tower, swaying in the breeze over Masitala – seemed little more than a quixotic tinkerer’s folly.
But his neighbours’ mirth turned to amazement when Mr Kamkwamba scrambled up the windmill and hooked a car light bulb to the turbine.
As the blades began to spin in the breeze, the bulb flickered to life and a crowd of astonished onlookers went wild.
Soon the whiz kid’s 12-watt wonder was pumping power into his family’s mud brick compound.
‘Electric wind’
Out went the paraffin lanterns and in came light bulbs and a circuit breaker, made from nails and magnets off an old stereo speaker, and a light switch cobbled together from bicycle spokes and flip-flop rubber.
Before long, locals were queuing up to charge their mobile phones.
Mr Kamkwamba’s story was sent hurtling through the blogosphere when a reporter from the Daily Times newspaper in Blantyre wrote an article about him in November 2006.
Meanwhile, he installed a solar-powered mechanical pump, donated by well-wishers, above a borehole, adding water storage tanks and bringing the first potable water source to the entire region around his village.
He upgraded his original windmill to 48-volts and anchored it in concrete after its wooden base was chewed away by termites.
Then he built a new windmill, dubbed the Green Machine, which turned a water pump to irrigate his family’s field.
Before long, visitors were traipsing from miles around to gawp at the boy prodigy’s magetsi a mphepo – “electric wind”.
As the fame of his renewable energy projects grew, he was invited in mid-2007 to the prestigious Technology Entertainment Design conference in Arusha, Tanzania.
Cheetah generation
He recalls his excitement using a computer for the first time at the event.
“I had never seen the internet, it was amazing,” he says. “I Googled about windmills and found so much information.”
Onstage, the native Chichewa speaker recounted his story in halting English, moving hard-bitten venture capitalists and receiving a standing ovation.
A glowing front-page portrait of him followed in the Wall Street Journal.
He is now on a scholarship at the elite African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Mr Kamkwamba – who has been flown to conferences around the globe to recount his life-story – has the world at his feet, but is determined to return home after his studies.
The home-grown hero aims to finish bringing power, not just to the rest of his village, but to all Malawians, only 2% of whom have electricity.
“I want to help my country and apply the knowledge I’ve learned,” he says. “I feel there’s lots of work to be done.”
Former Associated Press news agency reporter Bryan Mealer had been reporting on conflict across Africa for five years when he heard Mr Kamkwamba’s story.
The incredible tale was the kind of positive story Mealer, from New York, had long hoped to cover.
The author spent a year with Mr Kamkwamba writing The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which has just been published in the US.
Mealer says Mr Kamkwamba represents Africa’s new “cheetah generation”, young people, energetic and technology-hungry, who are taking control of their own destiny.
“Spending a year with William writing this book reminded me why I fell in love with Africa in the first place,” says Mr Mealer, 34.
“It’s the kind of tale that resonates with every human being and reminds us of our own potential.”
Can it be long before the film rights to the triumph-over-adversity story are snapped up, and William Kamkwamba, the boy who dared to dream, finds himself on the big screen?
From >> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8257153.stm
Filed under Motivational, Self Improvement by on Jan 23rd, 2010. 4 Comments.
Picture this – you’re a runner who’s just been selected to compete for your country in the Olympics.
The problem is, you can run the 100m sprint and the mile – you’re world class at both events.
You wait for them to tell you which one you’ll be running in but the news doesn’t arrive.
Which event do you prepare for?
Anyone who knows anything about running will know you can’t prepare for both at the same time, especially at such a high level competition.
So it’s not only advisable, but absolutely essential that you know which even you’re being entered for so you can be properly prepared.
What’s the point of this?
Only this – you have to have a clear goal to succeed in whatever it is you’re doing, or intend to do.
If you know you’ll be running the 100m sprint you know you will need to be able to run at maximum speed over the whole distance.
So you will need to train for speed and strength.
If you’re running the mile you will need to train more for stamina, with less emphasis on stength and speed than for the 100m.
What it boils down to is the fact that you need a clear goal to succeed in your event.
Once you know which one you’re going for you can then focus your energy on the correct method of training to achieve the goal you’re after – winning.
Short and sweet as I just wanted to leave you with a little something before I go away again for another week in London.
Keep a lookout for my next report on focus and how to achieve your goals which should be up week after next, once I’m back from Drayton Bird’s week long course on direct marketing.
Best,
Rezbi
Filed under Self Improvement by on Oct 2nd, 2009. Comment.
Introduction
I think it was around 1987, at the ripe old age of 20, when I first decided to go into business for myself. By that time I’d already been working at the civil service for a year and was already getting sick of working for someone – especially the government.
So I took my idea, the one I had in my head, and went to the bank to see if I could persuade them to give me a loan to get started.
When I got there the accounts guy asked me for my business plan. A business plan, can you believe it… what did he want one of those for?
As you can imagine, I got out of there faster than a blue-arsed fly with its backside on fire. How dare he expect me to actually write down my plans on paper? Who did he think he was?
So, that was the end of that plan. I went back to my job and stuck at it for the next two years. Which eventually turned into twenty years, in various industries.
Clear planning is so contrary to human nature that all the endeavours in the world seem unable to enforce it. Our frivolous minds seem to prefer the erratic path, to go scampering after every enticing little thought we can conceive. Drayton Bird
It was only a few years later I found out the only reason for drawing up a business plan is to get financing for a business. Or so I was told by the government literature on how to start a business.
Baloney.
The fact is, a business plan is much more than just some figures on a piece of paper designed to fool banks into giving us funds.
A business plan is a blueprint of our business success.
Not to have a plan before you get started is like committing suicide while you’re still in the womb. Doesn’t that sound ridiculous?
Well, that’s because it is… and it’s no different with business.
I believe that with all its faults any plan is better than no plan… If you have none, you are operating in a very unsafe way. Drayton Bird
Three things you need to know before you start
Think about it – before you even start the business, there are three fundamentals you need to think about. These are:
1.Where are you now? Before you can begin you have to know what your situation is now.
2.Where do you want to be? If you don’t know where you want to be, how will you know when you’ve arrived?
3.How do you get there? Once you’ve established where you want to be, you will need to figure out how to get there. And, you will need to be prepared for all eventualities along the way.
Let’s look a little further. First, what your situation is now. And that means figuring out your personal traits – are you a hard worker… or… are you someone who gets things done?
That may seem like a funny question, but working hard doesn’t necessarily equate to getting the job done.
How so?
I’m glad you asked.
The difference between working Hard and Effectively
Think about it this way, you’re sitting with a pen in your hand, or at the computer (depending on how you work) and begin to craft an article.
You work all day, writing and rewriting (much like I’m doing with this one) until, by the end of the day you have an article on bob sleighs so finely honed there’s no kinks or crookedness in it, anywhere.
In fact, even Clayton Makepeace can’t find a single fault with your writing.
Except…
The subject you’re supposed to write about has nothing to do with bob sleighs.
There is nothing so useless as doing something efficiently that which should not be done at all. Peter Drucker
You see, when you’re doing the wrong thing, it doesn’t matter how well you do it. The right thing done to a mediocre quality is better than the wrong thing done fantastically.
Therein lies the difference between being efficient, and being effective.
Make sense?
Good.
However, let’s see if I can clarify things a little more, just in case.
Are you a hard worker or a smart worker?
Take a look at this next grid (who says a college education is useless?)
Smart Clever and Lazy Clever and Hardworking
Stupid Stupid and Lazy Stupid and Hardworking
Lazy Hardworking
When you look at that grid, what jumps out at you?
See where it says ‘clever and lazy’?
Well, guess what? That’s the majority of us.
Trust me, I’ve met few people in my life who lack any type of intelligence. However, I have met plenty (myself included) who have a bucket load of intelligence… but are just too darned lazy to get off our backsides and make use of it.
One thing I used to constantly say to my students is, you can have all the brains in the world but it’s as useful as a pond full of amoeba if you don’t make use of it.
I’ve also met so many people during my working life who had the type of intelligence I could only dream of. What did they do with it? They sat on their backsides waiting for everyone else to do their work.
So, in order to ensure you do the right work, and do it right, what must you do? Well, for a start you need to plan your day ahead. Yes, I know, planning takes up your precious time. But think of all the time you’re wasting throughout the day thinking of what to do next.
If you take that relatively small amount of time out of your day, before you get started, you’ll have everything laid out in front of you. Then you’ll know exactly what you’re supposed to do next. And do it right, for the best results.
And, if your plans change as you go through the day, you can adapt it to meet your needs.
Without a plan of things to do, you can be certain you’ll work hard, but you’ll get little done.
As James Ling used to say, “Don’t tell me how hard you work. Tell me how much you get done”.
So, now what?
Well, for a start you need to check yourself out on the grid – where do you fall? Ideally, you should be clever and hard working.
If you’re not hard working, you’d better start, buddy. Because, if you don’t get the job done, no one else is going to do it for you.
As for being clever, the only solution is to educate yourself.
As my teacher once said to me, “Before you begin to do something, what must you do first?”
The answer?
“Learn how to do it”.
Just remember, when you do something ‘efficiently’, you’re only doing more of it and doing it better. However, if you want to do something ‘effectively’, you must work smarter.
In the next article I’ll cover the other points in this article and go into how you can figure out your existing abilities (what you are already able to do). And I’ll also show you ways to discover hidden abilities you didn’t think you had.
So, Let’s Go Over That Again
- Work out where are you now – check
- Decide where you want to be – check
- Plan how to get there – check
- You should know the difference between working efficiently and effectively – check
- Using the grid work out if you’re a hard worker or a smart worker – check
If you can plan what you want and how you intend to get there, you’ll find the journey a lot easier to travel.
As I said in the last report (sign up at my blog for that), get yourself and your time organised and set up routines for the things you can… and stick to the job at hand.
Finally
Would you like to see more reports like this one which go into more details of the HOW to do of everything you’ve read here? Go to top right, sign up and I’ll let you know every time the next one is ready.
Also, I’d love to hear your thoughts, about this report, and anything else you might be interested in.
You can reach me on my personal email if you have any questions or suggestions here: rezbi@feelinglazy.co.uk. – I’d love to hear form you.
And don’t forget to sign up for more reports as I write them at the sign up form on top right of this site.
All the best,
Rezbi
P.S. Would you like a downloadable version of this report? Just sign up on the top right and we’ll rush you your very own copy to download and keep handy.
Filed under Motivational, Self Improvement by on Sep 21st, 2009. Comment.
