Business Success Coaching

Model Success

2012-01-06T12:06:00.000-08:00

Sunrise in Hawaii

My daughter Chelsey gave me a great gift this past year. She and couple of friends began defining the successes that they plan on achieving by creating and posting video blogs intended to coach, teach and inspire young women. I was so impressed that I had to take the time to not only tell them how impressed I was, but to let them know how valuable I thought their information was, (when you feel impressed to compliment anyone, act on it before the opportunity passes). Some of their friends told them they were just being silly, implying that they were being grandiose, maybe even delusional in thinking that what they had to share was of any real value. I love a Will Smith quote..." I think that there's a certain delusional quality, that all successful people have to have." And from the movie Pursuit of Happyness" "Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't do something, not even me." Nelson Mandela didn't start life as the recognized sage that he is recognized as today, and yet he was always Nelson Mandela. His greatness began the day he recognized who he was, and was formed by the challenges he faced throughout his life. So it was with Chelsey and her friends, as they recognized the value of their knowledge and experiences their greatness began to influence others. At any rate, Chelsey and her friends reminded me about a few principle of success that I was taught at an early age; VALUE, LOVE, SERVICE, GRATITUDE, GOOD ENOUGH and VISION. They modeled success for me and behaved like a coach. The best way to coach is to simply do what is right. When we engage in doing the right things, we can't help but influence others. As most of you know, I prefer to lead by doing and succeeding. Coaching allows me to remember and put into action the principles of success, as well as prove the value of the principles that I have been taught and continue to pass on.

Business startup in the economy of 2010 has been challenging, but the principles that I have been taught have proven themselves to be timeless and adaptable to any economic environment. Profitability was achieved within the second month. A major change in my largest trading partner’s business model forced me start at square one again in February of 2011. Once again those principles of success proved their value as we once again achieved profitability almost immediately. As we now face a seemingly great challenge again, I was reminded that coaching would help me to find and achieve the successes that I need.

As we begin a new year we see it full of promise and the opportunity to make new choices (if we’re not getting the results that we say we would like to enjoy), or choose new outcomes for this year, or commit ourselves to the choices and activities that have produced the desired, successful, results for us.

Let’s take this new year to focus on learning and applying principles of success, as opposed to focusing on strategies. What are the principles of success?

VALUE

What do you value, what is your time worth, who shares those values in the form of Co-workers, Customers, and Joint Venture Partners?

SERVICE

Don’t ask how you can make money; simply ask how you serve the world best. What are your unique strengths? Remember the Hippopotamus that is my corporate logo. If you don't know the story behind that choice, no worries, we'll revisit it in February.

VISION

If you don’t know what success looks like, you may just walk past it, past him or past her. When you have enjoyed complete success, where are you, what are you doing, and who are you with; both at home and at work? Can you clearly communicate that vision of success? When you can, you will attract the right components required for that success. What does success look like, feel like, sound like, taste like? Experience that success daily, internally.

GRATITUDE

If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, you can’t have more – meaning that what is the point of accomplishment or gain when it doesn’t register with you? Lack of gratitude is at the core of a scarcity mentality. Lack of gratitude focuses on what you don’t have and provides all the excuses for failure. Gratitude allows you to recognize what you already have and allows you to leverage those assets for greater achievement.

CHOICE

Choose to produce the results that you value. Not getting what you desire, make different choices. Don’t want to make new and different choices? Learn how to be happy with the results that you’re producing. Those two choices are the core choices of our lives.

BALANCE

Balance work and play, home and work, indulgence and discipline, limits and charity, effort and rest.

INTEGRITY

Keep all of your promises and make no promises that you can’t keep.

ATTENTION

Pay attention and listen to the most important people in your life, at home, at the office and in the marketplace. Give them what is important to them, and in a way that allows them to understand that you’re giving them what they ask for.

MUST DO

If I say it’s going to get done I will get it done.

GOOD ENOUGH

Don’t wait for the perfect amount of time, or the perfect set of circumstances to begin achieving your dreams. Start now, even if you only have 5 minutes, even if you only have $5, even if you only have 5 friends or 5 potential customers.

ACCEPTANCE

Accept what is as good and beautiful, and right for the moment, even if “what is” seems painful.

LOVE

Learn to love and care for yourself as you would love and care for those most important to you. There is no integrity to beating yourself up while extending love to others. You can’t love anyone more than you love yourself. Until you can show yourself patience and acceptance, you can’t show it to anyone else, at least not to the highest levels that you are capable of.

I have not been producing all of the results that I value most; chief among them is the coaching that fulfills me. One of the reasons that I value Coaching so much is that it allows me to revisit the principles of success that have been taught to me. And frankly, I need to hear those message more than most of you need to hear them. While it appears that I am better at applying the principles of success, it is simply a matter of the fact that I hear the messages more often than the rest of you, because I repeat them over and over again in coaching sessions with my clients, my friends. That said, I choose to post to this blog on a bi-weekly basis, and I will use these principles as my curriculum. Let me know if these posts are meaningful. In fact, take the time to post links to these blog posts on your blogs. I promise to pay attention to what you say to make these posts as productive for you as possible. Let's take our "Knowing" this year and apply it in wise ways to produce much good for ourselves, our families, our friends and our communities throughout the world.

Make this “THE BEST YEAR EVER!”™
Coach Frits

and remember... "Once a Client, always a friend!" Get in touch with me my friends, let me know what you're grateful for.

With Every Bad Comes the Good, and Vice Versa

2010-06-16T10:07:00.001-07:00

An interesting fact reported by the Harvard Business Review today;

JUNE 16, 2010

Swedish Papas Get Generous
Paid Leave

With 85% of fathers in Sweden taking extensive paid parental leave, companies there have come to expect new dads to disappear for months at a time, and the leave-takers aren't penalized at promotion time, according to The New York Times. The country's generous paternal-leave policy is seen as contributing to lower divorce rates.

Source: The New York Times

According to a Wikepedia article, the combined Employer and Worker tax rate in Sweden is about 63%. Yet quality of life, as compared throughout the world is ranked as #10 of best rated countries to live in. USA Ranks #14 best Country with Honolulu coming as the #31 best city to live in, in the world. New York is the median ranked as the #49 best city to live in in the world. This according to the Mercer survey (Vienna scores 108.6 and Baghdad scores 14.7. Cities are ranked against New York as the base city…). Whether we agree with the survey, or not, is not at issue – it has long been known that quality of life in Sweden is high. Indeed, in my last visit to Stockholm, I was amazed at the relative "elegance of the populace. The food was remarkable. Culture is at its highest. I awoke one summer morning around 4AM; the lights were blazing through my window. It was a manmade "land of the midnight sun" as it were. Upon looking out my hotel window, I was amazed to see a scene of families enjoying the weekend, parents and even small children, having fun together as if it were a typical Saturday afternoon in any small American town. Understandable, considering how brutal the winters can be. Winters are so challenging that my hosts told me that theirs is a shrinking population. But their summers are filled with pure joy, regardless of the time of day or weather conditions. Along with their brutal taxes come some great joys of life. Yin and Yan, opposite forces always at play.

My point is, that none of us have anything to complain about, if we take the time to see "what's good" in our daily existence, regardless of where we live. Witness one of the International students in our town, who though being raised in the brothels of India (ranked on the lowest end of the Mercer survey). I have only seen her a few times, but each time, she has had a smile. She is helping my wife over the summer. Regardless of the assignment, she does not complain. My wife tells me that she goes about happily doing what is asked of her.

Many in our society have grown jaded. That attitude was summed up so well in a conversation with a teenager when he said "I Didn't ask to be here." Au contraire mon frère...what we have we have somehow asked for, a controversial truth open to argument, but unchangeable. Do we ask for tragedy or accident? No. Although, I refuse to watch what we commonly refer to as "wrecks" in bull riding (a really bad ride that generally ends in injury to the cowboy) because I don't want those images it in my mind as they can create fear and other unwanted outcomes. If I were to picture it in my mind, I might start looking for a "soft place" to land, as most cowboys do. If you get an opportunity to watch, especially amateur bull riding, see if you can notice where the cowboy is looking when he comes out of the chute. The cowboys that "fall" off the bull, (you never really fall off, you get slammed off by 2,000lbs of muscle) as they come out of the chute, are probably looking down at the ground. In bull riding we like to say you're going where you're looking. In that instance, we can create our reality. But accidents are just that, we don't create them, they really just happen.

Anyway, when you feel that you're dealing with "bad," look for the opposite force at play, the Yin and Yan. Trust me, it's there. Know that there is good in your business. If your business is "off," it represents an opportunity to improve your marketing efforts. Indeed, when sales numbers remain constant, we may be missing a huge opportunity to find more markets, or improve our marketing efforts such that we increase our business dramatically. When the sales numbers at your company "fall off," it presents an opportunity or motivation to look more closely at what it is that you value most, and then follow up with a question as to whether or not you're serving those values. You may produce greater personal fulfillment in your work as a result of going through the process of evaluating your business from the perspective of "do we want to keep doing this?" At the least, as you become more clear on what it is that you value most you will better communicate those values to your Partners, Associates and Employees. This will only serve to create a work environment that produces more joy and satisfaction for you. As you become aware of, and grateful for, that "good" your life is immediately enriched. You will find yourself more energized, and in the right place at the right time to enjoy the good accidents of life.

Namaste,

Coach Frits

Are Your Clients Experiencing Any Kind Of Economic Recovery?

2010-06-14T11:26:00.001-07:00

A multi-millionaire friend of mine asked that question of me the other day. I thought that my answer was worth sharing with you as well. In response to his question I said that many of my small business owners have been enjoying, and continue to enjoy economic success, regardless of national or worldwide economic conditions. People are still spending what money they have. Tires still wear out, books are still being read (indeed, witness the overwhelming success of the iPad), people are still buying computers and technology, people are still buying houses and getting mortgages. Regardless of the community that they are in, I am witnessing client successes throughout America.

SUCCESS IS AS EASY AS WE ALLOW IT TO BE, OR AS DIFFICULT AS WE CHOOSE TO MAKE IT – THE PRINCIPLE OF ALIGNMENT

Raji Rykert (her nickname is Superwoman) lives in Southern California. She has been enjoying success on two fronts. Real Estate Investing (how many people can say that today) and a new business startup (www.3facesmedia.com) signing new clients like Shari Belafonte the actress daughter of Harry Belafonte. I had the opportunity to sit and coach Shari briefly. What a remarkable person. Shari is introducing Raji to her best celebrity friends and growing Raji's business for her. How has Raji enjoyed such remarkably rapid success? It's not by hiring a great sales team or implementing an aggressive sales approach. Surely, Shari had many options when it came to hiring a Publicist. The traditional approach would have been costly. But by simply "seeding" the success of others, Raji seeded her own success. This is consistent with the behavior that I model in "Once a Client, Always a Friend." Would you like a friend who will be there for the long term? Give me a call at 801-755-6823.

There's a wonderful article about Augie Nieto, the founder of LifeCycle which grew to become a $550 Million business. Augie started out with a national sales tour that would ultimately cost a great deal and show no success. He found his success was much easier when his efforts came into alignment with his value of "Reciprocity." Read the article HERE and buy his book.

Mike B owns a towing and auto shop service in small town USA (population 4,505). When we began the coaching process he told me in our third session "I got mad at you for getting me to dream again. I had grown to accept my situation." Because of our work together he became aware of business losses that would ultimately force him to shut down his business (as so many small business owners do in America). By getting clear on what he values most, we are now identifying remarkable profit enhancing opportunities for his company. How many of you have struggled with business expansion opportunities when cash flow just isn't what it needs to be? Do you go out and finance your inventory, only to further erode profits? Have you offered products and services at deep discounts, not only eroding profits – but devaluing your products and services further? Or have you implemented measures that allow for profitable growth, like Mike?

STEP 1: GET CLEAR ON WHAT YOU VALUE

How can we align with our values if we don't know what they are? Stanford University research points to this as the fundamental reason for lack of success in peoples' lives. We have a great free tool available to help you get clear on what you value, and document them in a way that adds to more exercises that will grow your business. Again, IT'S FREE. Just email me at coachfrits@gmail.com for your copy.

But to get you started, answer this question. If you were admitted to the emergency ward today, and were coherent, what would you make sure got done before you went to sleep tonight? The answers to this question will give a huge head start on getting clear on your values.

An ancient story is told of a General living in peacetime, only to discover the enemy's preparations for a new war. The General was wise and caring, and desired a short war with minimal casualties, on both sides. In his wisdom he decided that the way to ensure a short conflict was to gather around him seasoned warriors who valued the same things that he valued. He knew that they would have experienced many of the same things that he had already experienced. He also knew that he would avoid having to convince those warriors of his strategies and tactics, saving additional time and avoiding loss of lives. With the lives of his friends and family in the balance, he wrote down the principles that he valued most, on an animal skin, and raised it as a standard. Military standards are used as a rallying point. As long as the standard flies, is held aloft, in the heat of battle it provides an inspiration to keep working towards the goal. Listing his values attracted warriors of similar value to his cause. A standard is also valuable as it allows us to measure progress – ground gained or lost relative to the standard. So a standard also provides a sense of direction, especially in the disorienting moments of a melee.

So it is in our communities and our companies. Success is so much easier, the challenge reduced, when we are surrounded by others of a like mind and value. You can save yourself significant hours and dollars when you are surrounded by those who value what you value. Get clear on what you value and then communicate it to your universe of employees, associates, partners and customers. You'll discover how much easier success becomes at this point.

Coach Frits

Are Your Clients Experiencing Any Kind Of Economic Recovery?

2010-06-14T11:18:00.001-07:00

SUCCESS IS AS EASY AS WE ALLOW IT TO BE, OR AS DIFFICULT AS WE CHOOSE TO MAKE IT – THE PRINCIPLE OF ALIGNMENT

Raji R (her nickname is Superwoman) lives in Southern California. She has been enjoying success on two fronts. Real Estate Investing (how many people can say that today) and a new business startup (www.3facesmedia.com) signing new clients like Shari Belafonte the actress daughter of Harry Belafonte. I had the opportunity to sit and coach Shari briefly. What a remarkable person. Shari is introducing Raji to her best celebrity friends and growing Raji's business for her. How has Raji enjoyed such remarkably rapid success? It's not by hiring a great sales team or implementing an aggressive sales approach. Surely, Shari had many options when it came to hiring a Publicist. The traditional approach would have been costly. But by simply "seeding" the success of others, Raji seeded her own success. This is consistent with the behavior that I model in "Once a Client, Always a Friend." Would you like a friend who will be there for the long term? Give me a call at 801-755-6823.

STEP 1: GET CLEAR ON WHAT YOU VALUE

So it is in our communities and our companies. Success is so much easier, the challenge reduced, when we are surrounded by others of a like mind and value. You can save yourself significant hours and dollars when you are surrounded by those who value what you value. Get clear on what you value and then communicate it to your universe of potential customers. The customers who value what you value, will allow you to make a profit. You'll discover how much easier success becomes at this point.

Coach Frits

From Miracle Monday last week, to today, the miracles keep rolling in

2010-03-11T15:46:00.001-08:00

I want to share some powerfully valuable truths with all of you. The important thing to note is that they will only become valuable and true for you when you choose for them to be valuable and true for you. Interestingly enough, I have already shared these ideas with most of you, but I thought you might find it valuable to hear these ideas from someone who has earned great credibility with the world at large, the actor Will Smith.

"There is a redemptive power to making a choice"

"The first step, before anyone else believes it, is that you have to believe it"

"There's no reason to have a Plan B because it distracts from Plan A"

"I think that there's a certain delusional quality , that all successful people have to have"

"You have to believe that something different, from what has happened for the last 50 million years of history; you have to believe that something different can happen"

"Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity"

"Why would you be realistic? It's unrealistic to bend a piece of metal and fly people across the ocean, fortunately the Wright brothers thought otherwise. I'm gonna do it, it's done. It's already done the second I decide I'm going to do it"

From a Will Smith interview with Charles Osgood

As I shared my "delusional" spirit with one of my clients today, Bill Sturman in Minnesota, he was quick to thank me for the delusional attitudes that I both possess and impress upon others to adopt in their lives. Bill is a software engineer by profession. About 5 years ago, he closed the doors of his own software engineering company, and went to work for a much larger company. Towards the end of 2009, he went to the hospital with what he thought was a heart attack. Wow, talk about a wakeup call. Fortunately it turned out to be an acute anxiety attack (okay, better to be relaxing on the beach in Tahiti – but definitely better than a heart attack), the product of working for a company that put sales revenue ahead of customer satisfaction. Bill was getting stressed by long hours and too many meetings with unhappy clients, because his employer couldn't deliver on promises made. Most of you know that I believe that there are no accidents in life. So Bill said to me this morning, "Because of your coaching Frits, and I really do mean that, …the (School) Board was very complimentary of the strategic plan that I presented, and they went on to approve the first half of my 6 month project for them. That represents about $80,000 that I'll put in the bank. Not bad for 6 months of work." Continuing on as he spoke about a Budgeting system he had created for Vo Tech and 4 Year Colleges, and in reference to the "fire sale" strategy that I had shared with him he said; "I actually helped wrap up a project on that. This afternoon I go out to one of my old customers (5 years ago) to establish a maintenance/improvement service contract. There are ½ dozen Universities that are using my budget management software, that will yield $20k to $50k annual contracts." So Bill will enjoy his best income and his "Best Year Ever"™ in 2010. From stress to joy in about 4 months flat, that's faster than a Ferrari's 0 – 60 performance.

Witness Raji's, (my awesome Publicist) successes in finding great new clients, or Mark's success in the corporate world as he "rises to the top" of a large multi-national pharmaceutical company "I put more money in the bank this year Frits." They provide additional evidence that what you dream is within reach, as long as you follow five simple rules; Ready for those "rules?"

1. Dream, or as my friend Chris Nelson the famous Jamaican bobsledder of 1988 says, "Dream Big." Be delusional and unrealistic. Regardless of what your life has been like, good or bad, you are allowed to have more. Get clear on what "Success" looks like.

2. Wake up, get dressed and leave the comfort of your home. You don't need to know what it is that you will do after "leaving home," simply step out in faith, with no preconceived notion of what the "steps to success" have to look like, just be clear on what success looks like. After you take the first step, the next step will be revealed. Some of the steps of success won't even be visible until you move forward a bit. Just be sure to "wake up" from your dreaming, and "go to the well." Regardless of whether or not the bucket comes up empty or full, keep going to the well (or perhaps find another well to go to).

3. Be delusional, unrealistic and demand the best for yourself and all that you love (like Lynda who loves millions of people in Peru).

4. Remember that life and success are both simply the product of choices. Don't like the life that is being "produced?" Make different choices. Don't want to make different choices? Love the life that has already been produced. That choice, to love what you have, brings you "more" in the very moment that you make that choice.

5. Destroy the expectations of perfection, great joy and beauty can be created from that. For example, through the years, many of you have seen "horrific" typos in my communications with you (I thought I was going to be a professional football player, so I skipped typing class – for you youngsters, that's what we called it back in the day, you know it as "keyboarding"). Today, my beautiful wife is sometimes addressed as "Oyu" [sic], and it's a designation that we both have come to appreciate as a result of "good enough." As my new friend, Dr. Brian Alman, said over dinner last week; "I am perfectly good enough." Everything really is as it should be. In this moment, you are what you need to be. Your life is what it needs to be. Or, as the great teacher "Sandy" Meisner taught his students to say to themselves, say to yourself "I am enough." Each of you has great beauty and value, I know, I've seen it. If you can't see it, allow me to help you "see it."

I cherish what I was told today (some of you will recognize this). "It's working, Coach! Every day you're getting closer! Everything you've ever wanted is being pressed toward you. Everything is clicking. Don't let the illusions trick you. Don't let the events of today dampen your spirits. Things couldn't be any better than they now are. You couldn't have more reasons to celebrate. Now! Do it! The hardest work is done! Just show up, be present, open every door and let events unfold. Life is your stage. This is your parade." I say these exact same words to you today.

What's the hard part of success (the hardest work that I was told was already done)? Dreaming Big, being delusional and unrealistic. But those aren't very difficult, are they? When that stuff becomes easy, life becomes easy. I hope your 2010 is as exciting and rewarding as mine. Thanks for being a friend of mine.

Make this "THE BEST YEAR EVER!"™
Coach Frits

Here’s a Great Profit Improvement Tool – Part 2

2010-02-21T14:59:00.001-08:00

As an update that underscores the ease of use and versatility of this tool, I want to report that I have made 22 new blog posts in under an hour. Pretty cool. So let's consider how this tool saves you the added expenses of upgrading your office computer system or systems.

Forget the fact that software now costs more than the computers that we're buying, the biggest expense of a new computer system in the office is learning to use the new productivity tools, especially if you are the only "employee" of your Small Office/Homes Office based business. If you aren't familiar with "opportunity cost," it is simply defined as the possible profits that you could have earned by using a resource differently; in this case it's the resource of time that we are considering. As the only employee of your company, you need to be busy doing whatever it is that customers pay you for. If you don't have enough customers yet, then the most valuable activity that you can be engaged in is Selling. Even if you are a tech support company, your time is best spent fixing other people's computers, or improving other businesses computers, rather than working on your own computers. There is a legend that great businessman Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic (known as the god of manufacturing," I'll post his story later) once walked into one of his manufacturing plant offices and saw a "computer" sitting on an employee's desk (it was actually the monitor). Legend has it that he picked up the "computer" and in front of his astonished staff walked to a window and threw it out. He proclaimed that "computers do not work, people do." I am certain he was aware of the power of the computer, but he wanted to make the point to his employees that they could get bogged down. Certainly, the learning curve of a new system is just like that. Some of you may remember WordPerfect, after they took over WordStar's market (yes anyone who remembers WordStar and Lotus, and even Word Perfect is as old as Steve Jobs and me. Of course I remember when word processing was an electronic typewriter with a small 1x4 lcd)? If you do, you'll remember how we had a new learning curve. We used keyboard templates, and competing software companies had "WordPerfect commands" capabilities wherein we could switch back to WordPerfect commands because it was too difficult to relearn the new Microsoft commands. It seems almost laughable to today's generation of computer literate workers. But that reality helped us to understand that when new technology was purchased, we had to pay attention to the training element of learning how to use the new equipment.

Today, that challenge is made so much greater as we have to learn how to integrate all of the equipment in our office, while at the same time learning how to get it all to work with the Internet, Networks - both physical and virtual, email and email Clients. It has simply gotten to be too complex. Have you ever felt like you have become the Computer Help Desk or Tech department in your small business? Have you ever felt like tech requirements and technical support (calling up the mobile technicians and paying them to fix a problem that wasn't' there yesterday)is draining your working capital as well as your precious time? The entire Office 2010 suite seems to have the potential of eliminating most of that. Buy Word 2010 (of course, you're already seeing that I would recommend buying the entire suite), and you won't have to go through reading a "Cloud based" service's "help pages" trying to figure out how to get it and your word processor to talk to each other. With the growing cloud computing model, it was time that a software company figured how to simplify all of that for us. Once again; bravo to you Microsoft, for getting it right for us and making it so we can focus on our businesses not our office equipment.

Last, but not least, it seems that Microsoft's marketing department has been working in unison with the Developers, and made "getting Office 2010" as east as using it. The new pricing model is in line with our needs as small to medium sized business owners. In addition to being a more affordable pricing model, Microsoft has made it possible to "try it, before you buy it" buy allowing free downloads of the Office 2010 beta. The new suite of tools is scheduled to arrive on store shelves in June, 2010. I strongly suggest that you download it now, and see if you aren't as excited about its features as much as I am.

Here’s a Great Profit Improvement Tool

2010-02-21T14:45:00.001-08:00

If you're like me and millions of business owners around the world, you are trying to use "Social Marketing" to your advantage. In your Social Marketing mix, you probably have a blog that you manage, just like this one. I manage 12 Blogs, along with 2 Social sites. That would seem a giant task, too large for anyone to manage. I'm no "superman," I have just found tools and advisors that help me, and I'd like to share one of those great tools with you. If you own a small sales company, you'll love this tool. It will allow you to quit dealing with office equipment (computer) problems, and get back to what is more valuable to you, face time with your customers.

Microsoft Word 2010

This may read like a tech page, but believe me, it's a very important part of our businesses toady. I strongly encourage you to read this to the end, unless you're already a raving fan of the new software, and are pretty confident with it's new features. Why didn't I refer to the entire set of work productivity tools now named Microsoft Office 2010? A great new marketing approach by Microsoft is that they will offer each Office 2010 product as a standalone application. So now, if you choose, you can buy just Microsoft Word 2010 by itself. Additionally, the entire suite of products is being offered under some great new pricing models. Along with "Upgrade," you'll also find "Card Key" which allows you to unlock pre-installed Office 2010 software when you buy a new computer. Lately, software prices have been higher than some new computer prices.

I am so excited about the tight integration and ease of use of Office 2010 that this may appear to be a Microsoft commercial, or ad. I assure you that I am not on Microsoft's payroll. Why am I so excited? I was just complaining to my wife how computers and software require a technical level of expertise to "keep it all working." Microsoft is changing all of that. A new standard is coming back to the tech industry. That new standard will only bring us, as consumers and businesspeople, ever improving ease of use and reliability standards we could only dream of (wait 'til you see how easy it is to set up your e-mail accounts in Outlook 2010 – but that's another story).

You will marvel at how easily you can link all of your blogs to Word's new "Blog Post" feature. No more "running around" the net logging into your one or many blogs. You're in control from the "Blog Post" tab in WORD 2010. Gone are the days when you had to learn different ways to spell check or format your bog post when using different service providers. All of the spell check, insertion, formatting and other features that you've become so comfortable with; are now all available to you when you're typing that next blog post. This is all possible from within the comfort of Word. Have you ever experienced the frustration of "fixing" spelling errors, or formatting errors, only to lose the entire document because your blogging server timed you out? That won't happen with Word, because the only time you will interface with the server is when you click on "publish." Combined with the power of your voice recognition capabilities, it won't get any easier until Microsoft figures out a way for us to think it and get it on the page. It's that good. More in the next blog.

Brilliant Marketing Campaign Example

2009-11-15T09:44:00.000-08:00

Part I Brilliant Marketing Campaign Example

The first e-mail establishes the "value" of what will become the "add-on." Try it out for 21 days... "If I keep the DVD, I'll pay just 4 installments of $3.74, plus shipping and handling." Shipping and handling is the Wharton School of Business's "incremental profit model," where the most important profits may be earned - pure profit - as the purchase price should already account for those costs.

Target correctly (previous buyers/subscribers like me), this is compelling. Having collected many of the 15 minute workouts, it would just be easier to buy the complete collection. I felt an initial desire to buy. In fact, I believe that many would be motivated to buy, in spite of an overwhelming sense of a lack of discretionary funds in today's economy. I wouldn't be surprised if many who read this article end up subscribing to Men's Health.

Note that at the bottom there's an introduction of the "Price Drop" announcement.

Part II of the Brilliant Marketing Campaign Example

Now, in this e-mail they present the "we're pulling out all the stops" part of the offer. After establishing the value of both components, they offer the previous $14.96 (plus shipping and handling) product for free, and you can keep it even if you cancel the subscription. Note that they are charging the $4.95 Delivery (shipping and handling), if you continue on with the subscription, so the DVD production is covered (and probably earns a net profit). The cool thing about the DVD is that it's nothing more than a "repurposed" resource." The components of the DVD were previously delivered as part of the magazines "gargantuan" weekly emailed resources campaign, the campaign that keeps them on a customer's desktop daily. Talk about top of mind. Their emails always contain items of real value (valued contact concept - bringing value immediately, whether or not a customer buys today).

If it cost me money to deliver like this, as in a traditional direct mail campaign, I'd have to be a Proctor and Gamble, or a Rodale to afford this. But e-mail, and social marketing make this something even a bootstrapped start up can afford. Add a reward like, "let us tell your friends by entering their e-mail address , and if one of them buys/subscribes, we'll send you a DVD for free" could dramatically accelerate the viral marketing of anything. Especially a "download deliverable," that costs next to nothing.

Rodale must have hire some great Interns this past summer, another great concept for Client companies to understand.

So, the next step for me/you could be;

How can I put this to work for me, does it have potential for finally starting my business?

What do I have (or can I repurpose) that costs little to nothing to deliver (Jim's tapes)?

Can I create an auto responder system to deliver daily or weekly "valued contact" items (snippets from that "download deliverable")?

Can I then follow up by offering the "Complete Collection" (with yet to be seen tips that were never delivered in the daily weekly tips) at a incredible value, with an independent "New Reduced Price" subscription offer at the bottom?

Can I finish with an "all stops pulled" offer that puts the "New Reduced Price" subscription on the table again, and include the FREE "Complete Collection" cd/dvd/download deliverable added for a one time offer? Don't forget we're going to collect the "delivery" charge of $4.79 (odd numbers can hold credibility and be compelling).

Make this "THE BEST YEAR EVER!"
Coach Frits

Just Give Me 5 Minutes Coaching - For Busy Executives and Business Owners

http://hostjointventures.com
http://benfranklinjunto.com
http://justgiveme5minutes.com

To the "Elite"

2009-11-11T09:49:00.001-08:00

As I prepare to head for an appointment, my thoughts turn to each one of you. Actually, my thoughts have been on you for a couple of hours now.

As all of you know, or at least most of you, I have some big physical goals to achieve. Not the least of which is the upcoming College football combine (tryouts where athletes try to outdo one another in speed, agility, and strength contests) coming up in March.

At 53 years of age, most would tell me to not even try. To compete at the level I desire, I need to be able to sprint 40 yards in 4.5 sec (NFL top athlete speed) I need jump, vertically, at least 36 inches. And I need to bench press 250 lbs at least 25 times and squat 300 lbs at least 20 times. Accomplishing those targets, I would get recruited to the local National Championship team with a full ride. I don't want to get recruited, or get a full ride and play. Seems an almost useless goal, doesn't it?

Most of you have heard me say. "A man without dreams is dead, a man who merely dreams is sleepwalking." So, I continue to have dreams. And those dreams change with time. I know from experience, that those dreams/goals achieved, become a good story to tell. They are nothing more than a springboard to the next achievement. What may seem an exciting goal/accomplishment today, can be a yawn tomorrow. I also make sure that I'm wide awake by pursuing my dreams with conviction, believe and action. I woke up this morning like many of you, with creaky joints that ached…lol (yep, I'm getting old). But, like most of you, I got up and engaged in the life that I envision - experience mentally, and dream of. Now, most people that I share my dreams with, laugh (at me, not with me). They think I am foolish and chasing ridiculous dreams. Much like many did when I said I was going to ride bulls. And almost everyone says, isn't it too late to start on something that ambitious? Remember that we refer to those people as "Red Lights?" They are people that try to stop us from pursuing our greatest dreams. Set personal boundaries, and don't allow the "Red Lights" to interfere with your greatest dreams. By your commitments and "tuitions," all of you tell me that you believe me to be an intelligent person. Don't my goals seem to contradict that sentiment?

I pursue these goals (world-class I would say) for the reasons stated above – living with my eyes wide open, fully awake, fully alive. I have one additional reason, to lead by doing. To reconfirm my commitment to the concept that "Life, and success, are as easy as we allow them to be, and as difficult as we choose to make them."

Do I achieve all of my goals with perfection (I haven't ridden a bull past 4.7 seconds – perfection is 8 seconds)? No, I have learned that perfection is my enemy – and that lesson cost me much of my youth and thousands upon thousands of dollars with great coaches. I would invest the dollars over and over again. The lost youth I regret. Yes. I've made some choices to make life more difficult as well. But the good thing is that I have achieved what seems, to many, impossible goals. So why am I sharing this with you?

To inspire and motivate you to believe and act as follows;

1) It's never too late – but you must get started today, even now!

2) Make perfection your enemy. I know you're busy, (much of that can be eliminated). DO what you can, even in the smallest "chunks." For those of you with fitness goals, I have a great 5 minute workout that will produce the result you're looking for. If you'd like a copy of it, (it's free), just ask and I'll email it to you.

3) Accept the fact that life is about choices, live with the results produced by your choices. Either stop wanting more, or change what you're doing so that you get more. Start making life easier, and let go of regret and guilt. Live life as a conscious adult, making conscious choices. There was a time when letting life happen as it would, served us. That was when we were children. But even then, we intuitively understood that we didn't need to experience regret and guilt. Don't misunderstand me; we need to take responsibility for our choices. But look up responsibility and guilt, and you'll see the difference betweens those two words.

4) Don't ask how you can make money; ask how you serve the world best (the Dharmic question). I serve best by Coaching. Because I found that answer to the question, my life has been full of worldwide experience and achievement. I enjoyed the life of a wealthy man long before I generated my first million. And I have continued to enjoy a remarkable life, by making a conscious choice to lead by doing. Do you know how rich my life has been because of leading by doing? You have all of the same abilities and opportunities.

5) Accept your current condition and take advantage of all the resources available to you. You don't need an Olympic training center to be an Olympian. Look at the legendary bodybuilder, Larry Scott (Mr. America-1962, Mr. Universe-1964, and the first Mr. Olympia-1965 and 1966). It was said of him, "Scott is said to have possessed little apparent genetic potential when he started training with weights in 1956, his narrow shoulders having been a particular weak spot." An interesting note is that Larry, a poor Idaho farm boy, didn't have a world-class gym available, and he couldn't afford expensive weights and such. In "Lil' Abner" like fashion , he would work out with car axles as barbells (that didn't allow for easy weight changes…lol). Don't have a million dollars; start with the $10,000 that you do have. Don't have $10,000, start with what you have.

6) Take advantage of the concept of collaboration by using either the strategy of Joint Ventures (go to http://hostjointventures.com to see the possibility, and make sure I include you in the "possible Joint Venture Partners section," just put your name on a list of possible Junto Partners by emailing me with that request), or the strategy of Mastermind Groups ( I can help you set up a group if you don't feel like you have others that would make good Junto (Ben Franklin's name for a Mastermind group – you can go to http://benfranklinjunto.com to pick up a free copy of Franklin's Autobiography, don't pay for a copy, it's in the public domain). I've attached a small guide for Masterminding. THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE IN GROUPS NOW, THIS IS NOT AN INDULGENCE OR A LUXURY. THIS IS A FUNDEMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF SUCCESS. IF YOU HAVEN'T HELD YOUR MASTERMIND MEETING YET THIS WEEK, DO IT TODAY/TONIGHT, OR THURSDAY AT THE LATEST. DO IT NOW. I'LL ASK YOU ABOUT IT ON FRIDAY. IF I DON'T SEE YOU IN YOUR COACHING SESSION, I'LL EMAIL AND ASK YOU ABOUT IT (AND YES, THIS MAY BE CONSTRUED AS "CYBER-SHOUTING," IT'S THAT VALUABLE AND IMPORTANT).

7) Know, without a doubt, that I care about your success. I care enough to invest my time, with you, thinking about to best help you to succeed when I'm not "with you," and openly and freely sharing the success principles and strategies that I've been taught and experienced and know to be true. It has brought me great success, that's my an ulterior motive. What goes around really does "come around." A simple principle of success. Take advantage of this principle and share this email with the people who are most important to you. Your families, best friends and most valued business associates.

Whoops, there goes the meeting reminder alarm. As Napoleon Dynamite's brother, Kip, would say "Peace, I'm out," and I'm off to my appointment and a great day. Here's hoping you're off to a great day and an easy life/success as well. It's your choice.

Make this "THE BEST YEAR EVER!"

Your friend,

Coach Frits

Just Give Me 5 Minutes Coaching - For Busy Executives and Business Owners

Getting What You Want

2009-11-08T22:56:00.001-08:00

Getting What You Want

For Business Owners, Coaches, and Sports Coaches

It's not what you know… it's what you do with what you know that makes the difference. Success is nothing more than doing the "right" things, at the right time, consistently. How do you know what the right things are?

One of my friends just shut down his business this week. And it's okay. He had come to the conclusion that he was investing his time engaged in the wrong activities. He knew that he could count on experts like me to turn his business around, but he finally had to admit that even if his business was running on "all 8 cylinders," he still wouldn't be happy. It wouldn't serve the things, or principles, that he valued most. He asked me to help him build a business that would serve

those values best. What's the lesson here?

You've probably all heard the cliché defining failure as climbing to the top of the ladder, "only to find it leaning against the wrong wall." Just because you build something, or "climb to the top" of something, or even accomplish something as simple as attracting one more customer or making one more sale, doesn't mean that you'll profit from it. Not unless certain fundamentals are addressed

1) Get Clear on What You VALUE most.

Why are you doing what you're doing? Why are you building this business? What do you value most?

For example, some of my values include family, financial freedom, and service. These values, along with seven others constitute my "standard" against which I evaluate all activities. Because of this, I'm able to choose the best activities that help me to serve those values. For example, if I'm presented with an opportunity that doesn't allow me to ultimately enjoy more quality time with my family, I will move on to a better choice that does.

I think the Rotary Club's "standard" is a great example of getting clear on what you value most, "Four Way Test." The test, has been translated into more than 100 languages (and is recited all over the world at the beginning of a Rotary Club meeting). And no one can argue with the great things that Rotary has done for communities around the world. It even seems, at times, that the members of that club could move mountains. The "Test" asks the following questions:

Of the things we think, say or do…

1. Is it the TRUTH?

2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?

3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?

4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

What are the values that you "test" your business performance and opportunities against? Are your most important values being served by the activities that you engage in? If those values are being served, then you are experiencing incredible joy when engaged in your work. You can't wait to get up and "get to work" every morning. If those values aren't being served, well then you dread your work.

2) Get Clear On What YOUR TIME is Worth.

I love the quote "If you don't establish what your time is worth, you leave it to others to decide what your time is worth."

Most people will compensate you with as little as they can get away with. After all, their first responsibility is to see to the needs of their family, right? When you get clear on what your personal time value is, you make it easier to communicate that value to others. Not only that, but you make it easier to choose who you want to do business with. And yes, Virginia, you do get to choose who you do business with. Additionally, when you get clear on your time value, you have another standard to measure your potential activities against. The activities that match your accurate time value, would be the "high value" activities of your life.

If you struggle with getting clear on your time value, a Coach can help you recognize many qualities, skills and characteristics that you possess even help you improve them. These are all assets of real value to the customers that you want to work with, the customers who value you the most.

EDITOR'S NOTE: We have a simple "Time Value Calculator" that we will e-mail to you, free of charge. Request it at CoachFrits@gmail.com

3. Get Clear On What YOUR SUCCESS Looks Like

You've probably all heard the story of the American businessman attending a business convention on the coast in Mexico. Bored with his meetings, he decided to take off his shoes, roll up his pant legs, and take a stroll on the beach. On his walk, he came upon a Mexican fisherman coming in with his day's catch.

Eyeing the bounty in the fisherman's boat, the businessman complimented the fisherman on his catch, and asked what he would do with the fish. "Oh, I will take them home, cook them for my family, and give the rest to friends. After a good meal, I will play with my kids, lay in my hammock, talk with my wife, and enjoy life" answered the fisherman.

Upon which the businessman suggested that the fisherman sell some of the fish, save the money and buy another boat. "What would I do then?" asked the fisherman. "You'll catch more fish, leaving more to sell. That will give you more money until you have bought a fleet of boats. You'll catch enough fish to sell to hotels and restaurants, and build a cannery to sell fish north of the border. You'll build a multi-million dollar business."

"What would I do with that?" asked the fisherman.

"You would sell the business, and be a very wealthy man" was the businessman's reply.

"What would I do with all of that money?" asked the fisherman again.

"Well, then you could spend time with your family, enjoy life." the businessman answered, as the fisherman stared at him, dumbfounded with the businessman's lack of understanding, before walking off with his catch.

The fisherman knew what he wanted, and knew how to achieve it, without going through unnecessary efforts, that would only serve to complicate life. He knew what success looked like in his life. He recognized that he had already achieved that success. To paraphrase a question often asked today, "Do you want the trappings of success, or do you want to be happy?" If you don't know what your success looks like, before you begin looking for it, you might just walk right past it. Like many wealthy people I've known throughout my life, you'll be on a lifelong quest of chasing "it," without knowing what "it" really is. That's a life of unending dissatisfaction.

Answer the following question…

If you had complete success, what would your life look like; where would you be; who would you be with, and what would you be doing? As in the story of the fisherman, you may discover that you already have everything that you desire.

So you say you're already clear on these 3 critical issues? Or you're committed to getting clear on them, and you want to know what's next? You admit that your challenge is taking the action that is needed to achieve your vision of success?

Here's good news. You don't need more will power. All you need to do is to "reprogram" your mind. When your computer stops working efficiently, you don't just throw it away, do you? You will probably upgrade some components like the hard drive or the memory, much like a good Coach can help you to upgrade your skills. But you will probably also "reformat" the hard drive (erase the stuff that's slowing the computer down), and then install a new operating system. And a good Coach can help you do that as well.

ANCHORING TECHNIQUE

Tony Robbins (I recommend all of his books to you; great investments), teaches that we do things for one of two reasons: 1) avoidance of pain, or 2) pursuit of pleasure. If you're avoiding something, it is generally because you perceive great pain in the doing, and/or great joy in the not doing. Rather than try to "muscle" your way through the pain, why not change the way you think and find great pain in the not doing and great pleasure in the doing? This is one of the ways we allow success to be as easy as it can be.

One other note; the "success image" that you'll develop will come into physical reality for you. The first time I used this technique (in my 20's), my success image involved a 20' Christmas tree in the foyer of a grand home. I enjoyed that 20' Christmas tree in that exact foyer, just as I had "experienced" it in my anchoring, about 20 years ahead of schedule.

First take the time to create the ultimate "failure image." It must be painful and believable. Since I could never imagine myself in jail, my failure image consists of me in a very bad nursing home. I'm in a wheelchair with a food tray clipped in, in front of me. I can feel the tray digging into my forearms. I can feel the blanket bunching up underneath me. I can smell the fact that I've been wearing the same pajamas for three days now. I can hear the sounds of a bad nursing home, smell the smells, and taste the "blandness" of the food. For your image to work, you have to have enough detail to be able to experience all of the senses. The mind is a powerful thing. If the mind experiences something in detail, it's as if it really happened.

Now, take the time to create the ultimate success experience. You should have already accomplished that in the exercise above. For me now, it involves standing on the veranda of my home on the beach in Sunset. Wrapped in the arms of my beautiful wife, enjoying the setting sun, the smell of the ocean, the light breeze and the dolphins swimming by... (I'll spare you the rest of the details, but your image must be in complete detail). For your image to work, you have to have enough detail to be able to experience all of the senses. See it, touch it, smell it, hear it, taste it. Schedule your "high value" activities. When you find yourself "avoiding" any activity, or are reluctant to engage in it at the exact appointed time, follow this exercise…

1. Place a rubber band around one of your wrists beforehand (if you're right handed, I recommend putting the rubber band on your left wrist). Imagine a screen to your left, 15 degrees above the horizon. "See" yourself avoiding the activity. Experience the "failure" image fully, feel the pain of it. See a stop sign in your mind's eye and say "Stop," either quietly or out loud, then snap the rubber band against your wrist. Repeat this cycle a second time.

2. Now imagine a screen to your right, 15 degrees above the horizon. Then see yourself engaged in the activity, in a positive way. Watch this movie in bright colors, you and others smiling. Then experience your success image (notice I said EXPERIENCE, not ENVISION, meaning engage all of your senses), in full detail. Then snap your fingers, or clap your hands. Repeat the process a second time. Eventually, all you'll need to do is snap your fingers or clap your hands and you'll be in the state that allows you to act with confidence and joy. We refer to this as "Immediate Performance." A professional in any endeavor must perform to their highest level when required, regardless of how they feel, emotionally or physically. This is how to accomplish this consistently.

So, what are you doing now? Are you sitting there thinking, "Hmmm, good stuff?" Are you making plans to try this out? Or, are you making a difference in your life, the lives of your family and your customers by already doing something with what you've just read?

It's not what you know… it's what you do with what you know that makes the difference. Success is nothing more than doing the right things, at the right time, consistently. A great way to know what the right things are, is to hire a Professional Business Coach. Or, order a copy of "How To Market Your Crap When The Economy Is In the Toilet at by emailing me at CoachFrits@gmail.com. Or request to get on the early release list for my new book "Just Give Me 5 Minutes."

Your friend,

Coach Frits

"Success Is As Easy As We Allow It To Be"

http://hostjointventures.com