Categories:

• Achieving Success

How many times have you heard the saying, “Work smarter, not harder”?

I’m all for being efficient with my time and energy, but here’s the cold hard truth of the matter: nothing can ever take the place of hard work.

Every industry is full of smart people. The ones that rise to the top aren’t exponentially smarter than their peers—they simply out-work them all. They’re smart enough to know that if two people are equally clever in their work, the one that works the hardest wins every time.

Nothing cures business woes like hard work. It’s the panacea that works when all else fails.

If your business or career isn’t going as well as you’d like, work harder at it. Forget everything else and don’t put your nose to the grindstone—throw your whole damn body against it. I promise that at least some of your extra efforts will be rewarded and voila, hard work wins the day.

Categories:

• Weekly Faves

Tags: mind mappingweekly faves

It’s time for another weekly faves! I think you’ll like what I’ve found for you this week… Here’s the Flickr shot of the week:

http://www.xmind.net

Xmind is free, open-source, easy to use software for mind mapping. Don’t know what mind mapping is? Check it out! It’s a great tool for organizing projects and brainstorming.

http://getpunchd.com

Punchd puts paper loyalty cards on smartphones. It makes it easy for you to create a paperless loyalty program to grow your repeat customers and turn new customers into loyal customers.

http://www.echosign.com

EchoSign allows you to upload a document that you want signed and email it to someone who can then use the app to sign it and send it back to you (or they can print, sign, and fax it back). Great for contracts and other agreements.

http://feefighters.com

This site lets you shop for merchant accounts. You fill out some basic information and then receive bids from merchant account companies (and no sales calls—your information stays private).

Categories:

• Achieving Success

Tags: success

When I was growing up, I played a lot of basketball. I loved it. I got pretty good and ended up playing on my high school and college teams. But, as anyone that’s ever learned a sport has experienced, I sucked at first. Like really, really bad.

But my desire to get good was burning hot and I put in hours and hours of practice. Every week I sucked a little less until one day, I had a magical epiphany: I didn’t suck anymore. I could move and protect the ball well, I was a good shot, and I understood the flow of the game.

Why am I telling you this? Because it’s very relevant to business. If you want to achieve any level of success in your business, there are many things that you must be willing to suck at first.

I used to suck at sales, but I studied and “practiced” until I got good.

Categories:

• Weekly Faves

Tags: weekly faves

It’s time for another weekly faves! I think you’ll like what I’ve found for you this week… Here’s the Flickr shot of the week:

From Trev4 Photography on Flickr

http://www.evernote.com/evernote

I love this app and use it every day.  Evernote lets you take notes, sync files across your devices, save webpages, capture inspiration, and share your ideas with friends and colleagues.

http://www.wunderlist.com/

Wunderlist is a super simple, super free, task management application will keep you organized whether you’re sitting at your desk using a Windows or Mac operating system, sitting in your car using an iPhone or an Android device, or sitting at a coffee shop using an iPad.

http://thinkery.me

Thinkery is a web-app that helps people keep track of the things they’ll forget if they don’t write them down – from decorating ideas and spring-cleaning chores, all the way to funny YouTube videos that just have to be saved and watched again later.

Categories:

• Achieving Success

Tags: steve martinsuccess

Steve Martin is one of the most famous comedians of the 20^th century, and many “modern” devices that young people think are so novel actually have their roots in Martin’s work. Martin is a highly accomplished stand-up comedian, writer, actor, and musician…

…but how did he do it?

In his memoirs, Born Standing Up, Martin wanted to share his insights on how he achieved his success, not just what he achieved. His advices inspiring, spot-on, and applicable to any activity or field. I want to share the essence of what I’m going to call the “Steve Martin Method for Dominating Your Field” with you here.

When people ask Martin what his secret to success in the entertainment industry, his answer usually disappoints. It’s one, unsexy line and it’s very simple. Here’s what he tells them:

“Be so good they can’t ignore you.”

Before you dismiss this as clichéd, let it sink in because it captures the essence of success in any area of your life.