New Age Readers Corner - A Good Read

The Great Debaters

2012-01-04T14:37:00.001-08:00

Up to now my reviews for this blog has been limited to books I have read and found to be inspiring and powerful in there content or message. Over the holidays my family and I spent family time watching a movie we decided to watch for about the third or fourth time. The movie provided a historical perspective on when a small black college debate team took on at the time the elite debate powerhouse of Harvard University. The movie my wife was able to find for a steal at local merchant features two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington as a debate professor and Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker. The Great Debater was inspired by a true story. Most of the story takes place in the Texas with a focus on the early activities of the civil rights moment in the south. The actors bring the story to life in their real life depiction of the issues of the times and raw courage it took to take a position on the subject of civil rights. The storyline is a David and Goliath approach to meeting a challenge head on and with faith and pure determination becoming the unexpected victor. The movie is rated PG -13 with good reason, because of the strong nature of the content that was necessary to tell the story without editing out parts that made it both believable and intriguing. The movie is a lesson in the skill of debating and winning and overall preparation to compete in any area of your life. It speaks to team work and the beauty of each person on the team caring enough about the objective to give no less their best to position the team for victory. There are also underline themes in the movie of equal pay for equal work, women’s rights, equality in education and the true meaning of justice. The movie takes you through a real life event that had a great deal to do with shaping the civil rights moment of black people in the United States and events that helped them to achieve dignity and respect for their contribution to society. I encourage you to get a copy from your local library and have a movie night. It is a movie about believing in your ability to succeed because you understand the importance of being prepared to win!

Want to Improve Your Sale Skills

2011-11-30T09:28:00.000-08:00

I have just the book for you to read if you haven't already! "Jeffery Gitomer's" Little Red Book of Selling. It is packed with everything you need to know from start to finish on improving your ability to sale. It doesn't matter if it is shoes, cars, clothes or condo's this book will help you increase your return on investment. Why do I say that, well it convinced me that once again you don't have to re-create the wheel to improve your ability in almost any area of life. Find the right book and learn from the person that has already made most of the mistakes, and is willing to share with you, not only how to avoid them but to leverage their knowledge to compete with those who are still making them. Sound to good to be true, not really because most of us know people that seem to live a charmed life when it comes to sales...so what are they doing that we are not? Well one of the key points the book stress's is that most people in sales are not willing to work hard enough to stand out in the crowd. Of course that not you or I but think about it for a minute, how much effort do we/you put into becoming the best at what you do be it sales or whatever your career might be? The magic is realizing that much of what we do is average but we want better than average results. This is a book that should serve as a resource tool to first evaluate what you need to do differently and second how you begin to migrate into that direction. It is not enough to desire to do better, there has to be sincere and consistent effort. How many times have we heard you can't keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? This is the same author that published the Sale's Bible which is the next book on my list to read. I share this with you because you never know, this might be the book that inspires you to take a whole new approach to what you have been doing for years or maybe you are just starting out and what a great foundation this could be to build on. I appreciate no nonsense books that put things in a simple language that most of us can identify with and implement if we so chose to do so. The other beauty of this book is that it provides tools and suggestion to customize the learning to your area of need. It takes generic principles that will work in the real world and allows you to incorporate them into your plan of action. The key here is to develop a plan of action and not just keeping doing what you have been doing and not achieving the results you want to in any area of your profession. So don't just take my word for it, grab a copy from your local library and see if it works for you? It clearly has left an impression on me!

Crush It: by Gary vay-ner-chuk - Conclusion

2010-07-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

Once you have developed your approach to sharing your passion and expressing your DNA the real work begins. The internet is a community and like getting to know your neighbors you have to get active in learning that community and engaging forums, people and conversations that share your passion. This is no small task given the size of the internet community but with just a few of the suggestions from Crush It on where you should start will get you pointed in the right direction. Your list of Internet communities will expose you to whole new language with words like: Subscribe, Follow, Link, Join, Share to mention a few. Some of the communities themselves you will be familiar with, if only by hearing about them in conversations, the news and in print. The growth of social networks on the Internet continues at a phenomenal rate with Twitter, Face book, My space and email even playing a significant role in the scheme of things. As you begin to tap into every forum, online conversation, blogs, pod cast and webinar focused on the subject of your passion you will begin to take pleasure in the fact that people are starting to comment on and read what you have to say. It is critical that as you build your brand that you never lose sight of the ultimate goal of monetizing your passion. There is quite a list of ways to approach this given all the resources available to you on the Internet to accomplish this. Gary shares a comprehensive list of these in Crush It and provides insight on how to utilize each in starting to market your passion with the use of advertising, speaking engagements, affiliate programs, retail, articles, seminars, books and television. This is where your dream needs to be in the driver’s seat, you have to have a dream that motivates you to engage each obstacle as an opportunity to learn and a belief that each step will ultimately get you closer to your goal. You want to take it seriously but not too seriously, have fun with it and celebrate the small victories along the way. As things began to happen this is the point you need to take in as much as you are putting out, meaning listen to what is working and not working and take actions to fix it. There are as many opportunities to take your business backward as forward, as it is very important to stay true to self but also to those who have chosen to be a part of your community. You have to take full responsibility for your success so if something is not working in your tool set, approach, or whatever take you need to take whatever steps within reason to resolve it. Lastly keep an open mind and be creative because there are new tools and concepts being developed everyday to build on the principles that Gary is conveying in Crush It and I believe from reading the book he would agree there are multiple ways to get from point A to point B, so consider Crush It as a roadmap not a singular approach to success and DO IT! I really like how Gary sums up at the end of Crush It, he asks the question "did you forget anything" and follows the question with a list of 21 items/checklist to build your personal brand with number one being "Identify You Passion and number twenty one being "Enjoy the Ride".

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Create Great Content

2010-07-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

Gary makes it clear that to monetize your personal brand into a business using social marketing networks requires two essential ingredients: product and content. It has to be a quality product that you truly have a passion for and are willing to work hard to market it. The product has to something you know extremely well or are willing to do whatever is necessary to learn everything you possibly can about it. This may mean attending classes, seminars, reading books and lots of research on current and future trends as they relate to the product. When I say do your homework it is at a whole new level of understanding the product like no one else does and being able to express in a fashion that is unique and interesting to a broad audience. You need to be able to tell a story that demostares your passion for the product and helps other relate to why it excite you to the degree it does. It's like getting them to participate in a wave that shows a meeting of the minds on the positive or negative attributes of the subject. You should be able to talk about it for days at the drop of a hat. If anything keeps you awake at night it should be the joy of sharing every new discovery you make about the product. It is not enough to share your passion if your ultimate goal is to monetize it into a salary that would allow you quit your job. It also has to be a niche that is big enough to draw a broad enough customer base and two you must be able to set yourself apart from everyone else marketing that same product. Once you feel you have selected the right product a critical next step in building your brand is by engaging people with similar interest to get yourself into existing conversations that will ultimately assist in expanding your brand. The available media on the Internet are almost endless but the magic is finding the right ones to leverage your brand. It is not enough to say build it and they will come because if they can't find you in the communities they frequent they will not come. Here again is an area Gary excels in Crush It by sharing try and proven platforms for you to start to build your brand equity. Depending on your overall knowledge of the Internet you may already be utilizing a number of these platforms and if not Gary Crush It is a Good Read, to help you develop your plan of attack. However, all of this comes back to what was said earlier about the need for authenticity in everything you do. As in any business you set out to create you will never please everyone all of the time but the message here is be yourself from start to finish. While there will be a group you will not appeal to, the truth of the matter is that with the right content, true passion, hard work, a quality product and authenticity you will win. The other critical element of success is to be patience and realistic about how long it takes to build a successful business. There was a time where a small business owner creating a new brick and mortar business was cautioned to be able to survive 3-5 years from start to generating profit and stability in a business. We have also heard 80% of small business fail in the first year. It takes time to build a business and in most cases it is not about the amount of effort but more so the quality of effort that accelerates its growth and eventually stability.

Build Your Personal Brand

2010-07-13T19:38:00.000-07:00

What is building your personal brand? It taking your passion and customizing how you share it with the world at large weather it is via a blog, pod cast or video. Yes I said the world, sound a little over the top, well with the power of the world wide web it is almost an under statement. Gary shares in Crush It that his personal brand is not about selling wine on the Internet. While he may have enough on hand to ship a few bottles to his viewers that is not the goal or the intent of "Thunder Show (his nickname for Wine Library TV). It has always been about building as he says brand equity. The key to monetizing your passion online is developing your personal brand. We are moving into a new age of branding whereas those that preceded us built their brands using the movie screen, radio, magazines and newspapers. The beauty of the Internet is that you can do the same at a much lower cost and far less restrictions. How do you effectively build your brand, well it is very much about bringing uniqueness, energy and authenticity to what you do. People want to hear the truth and they want to know you have done your homework. It is critical that you provide true insight into whatever you express as your passion and awesome content is an absolute must. Crush It is a road map to success utilizing social media and the Internet as the vehicle. Weather you have ever used a computer before there is no better time then now to start learning about Twitter, Face book, Blogs, You Tube and Pod cast to mention a few. My idea of building a personal brand is another way of saying developing strong and lasting relationships with people your don't know but in which you share similar interest. It is about building a bond with people that appreciate your passion and you. They say that in most cases a person makes a hiring decision in the first twenty seconds of the interview, because that is enough time to decide if they like the person interviewing for the position. As you build your personal brand you have to develop a total new awareness of everything you do and say because you are a living resume every second you are working. Where do you want to be in 5-10 years from now in your personal growth and development will what you are doing today position you to make that dream come true. It is important as you make this self assessment that you examine every aspect of your lifestyle and honestly dare to dream. How much time do you want to spend working, being with your family, traveling, helping others and are you making anything near what you are worth? This being said probably the most important question you need to ask yourself is do you enjoy what you are doing to make a living? If the answer to this question is no that in itself may be enough to get you to investigate a whole new approach to working for a living.

Believe In You - What Gets You Excited

2010-07-12T20:02:00.000-07:00

As Gary puts it so well...with the power of the Internet, "it is possible for anyone to be 100 percent true to themselves and make serious cash by turning what they love most into their personal brand". Wouldn't it be outrageous for you to reach the point that Gary truly believes everyone can, a time when "there no longer has to be a difference between who you are and what you do"! So what is my take on this, well what do I believe was and still is my passion? I have always enjoyed writing; songs, poetry, news articles, commentaries, humorous quotes, and even short stories, you name it and at some point and time I took a crack at it. Why did I eventually give it up and shift my focus from what I loved to what I felt I needed to do to make a living? It wasn't any one thing that stole my passion, it was an accumulation of things including tough marks form my English teachers in high school for grammar not content, rejection letters from Readers Digest that provided no feedback as to why they were rejected, Poetry that went unpublished after the tenth re-edit to make it perfect, songs that were put to music without knowing the next step to marketing it for production. As "Crush It" explains it so well, it is not enough to just determine your DNA (attributes and abilities), if you want to make money with them, you have to learn everything there is to learn about your passion and then apply them. Once you have this level of understanding about self there is an extremely powerful vehicle called the internet to help you make it your brand.

Crush It - Cash In On Your Passion - By gary-vaynerchuk

2010-07-08T17:31:00.000-07:00

What a wild ride and a down to earth approach to getting your attention. Solid message with the how to details to changing your life. After reading this book it was clear to me that it is really about finding your passion and building from there. Life is too short to get up every morning going to a job just to make ends meet and live from day to day. Many of us don't believe we have any other choice so we are keep doing the same thing everyday praying, hoping and wishing for a different result. Gary said it from the heart since he is living what he is saying, and 100% vested in the approach and the work ethic required to be successful. He starts by clearly stating Passion is Everything and if you want to get out of the rut, than job one is determining what some would profess they enjoy so much they would do it for free. However, if you really love it and are willing to take that extremely strong desire to the next level you don't have to do it for free! Once you determine that one thing that floats your boat, fires your engine and sets the wheel a turning then you are on the way to building a new lifestyle. The game has changed and if you are ready to embrace it gary's Crush It with help you get there step by step, utilizing cutting edge resources to share your passion and build your brand. What is Gary's secret to success...as he said they are pretty simple rules; Love your family, Work Super hard and Love your passion.